


The Blue Box Case

by Kelkat9



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Humor, Non-Graphic Violence, Romance, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-06
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2018-01-18 10:11:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 53,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1424647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelkat9/pseuds/Kelkat9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box.  Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important.  There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST.  Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is very AU and will be a cracky sort of spy romp. Thanks to who_in_whoville for betaing!
> 
> * * *

In a dark corner, hidden away and lost in time, she sat alone mourning all that she had lost. A lone survivor of a brutal war between one species bent on domination and ethnic cleansing and the other, her allies, driven mad by the vicious and visceral fighting with no end in sight, until one or both were destroyed along with the rest of creation. The solution was the final sanction, the destruction of not just two advanced and ancient civilizations, but any that shared their unique talents and skills. How she survived she didn’t know. All she knew was that she fell through time and space landing on this primitive planet for a reason. Something or someone was calling to her. Time, her beloved consort, the essence of her soul, chose to obscure what she would find here. So, she sat quietly, almost completely unnoticed by the indigent species of this planet until time saw fit to reveal her destiny…

Gallifrey Intelligence Agency was not well known or publicized nor did they want to be. In fact, they avoided publicity. Anonymity was key to their success. The head of the agency was known to their clients only as the Director, a posh, well dressed business man. Of course, he was far more than the standard CEO. Underneath the suave executive exterior was a tough, tenacious bull dog of a business man, a former espionage agent well versed in global politics and economics who led a team of equally clever and battle tested men.

Upon acceptance of a new client, the Director would call his team together to brief them on their latest assignment. He was often a man of instincts and gut feelings and everything in him screamed that the current assignment would be a challenge. He entered the penthouse office through the double wooden doors carved with ornate circular designs and quietly padded across the lush Persian rugs covering the rich wood floor toward his waiting team. The penthouse was located at the top of Vitex Tower, the tallest skyscraper in London and was decorated in a mix of super modern Danish furniture and more classical walnut and mahogany tables and chairs. The Director’s desk was a centuries old worn walnut piece that once belonged to Isaac Newton and was at present occupied by his top agent, the Doctor. The Doctor was a rebel, brilliant, cunning and without a doubt an expert at everything. He could be smooth and charming or ruthless giving no second chances to any who crossed him. He sat on the Director’s burgundy, kid leather chair. Dressed in his standard brown pinstripe suit and with his trainers propped up on the desk, he sat their casually eating a banana when the Director cleared his throat.

The Doctor looked up at him with a charming grin that often fooled his enemies into thinking he was harmless. The reality was that the Doctor was anything but harmless. His boyish good looks belied a man who had lived a full and often difficult life. He refused to use guns or any instrument designed to kill, but instead used words as his weapons of choice and was often able to disarm and confuse his opponents with his quick wit and snappy retorts.

This time, however, his smile was showing his genuine affection for the Director who was an old friend. “Hello, Pete!” the Doctor called out. He was the only person who ever called the Director “Pete.” No one knew why the Doctor called him this as they didn’t believe it was the Director’s actual name. Of course, no one at the agency knew anyone’s real name. It was safer that way. All the members of the team had code names. The Doctor, however, had a habit of bestowing nicknames on certain people whether they wanted one or not.

The Director’s team was quite well rounded. The Doctor, the leader, was slim and regarded as a little bit foxy with his spiky brown hair and deep chocolate brown eyes that crinkled when he smiled. He was the architect of their operations, but that didn’t keep him from being in the field in the thick of everything. Second in command was the Captain, a tall, well built raven haired charmer with movie star good looks and oozed sex appeal. The Doctor liked to call him Jack. No one on the team was brave enough to ask why. It was generally known they were close friends and that the Captain would give his life for the Doctor. Some even said he had. His expertise with weapons made him a prime asset to the team along with his ability to charm the knickers off of any male, female or anything in between.

Next up was the Tin Dog. The Doctor sometimes called him Mickey or Rickey if he was really annoyed with him. He was young, good looking and had a bright charming smile. and an affinity for science fiction and football. He was also tops with any form of tech and had hacked into numerous networks considered unhackable. He was their link to the cyber world. Then, there was Roranicus. He was quiet and unassuming, but had a certain boyish charm about him. He had patched everyone up at least once on missions where things had not gone exactly as planned. He had assorted degrees in various medical fields. He blended in and often was sent in for reconnaissance.

Lastly, there was Sarah Jane who kept them all in line. She had been an investigative reporter for years before the Director lured her into the organization. She had sources through out the world and was often able to gather the initial intel for their missions as well as keep the team in line. She was immune to the Captain’s flirtations and would stand toe to toe with the Doctor even in his darkest moods. Everyone respected her.

When everyone settled down, Pete tapped a control panel on his desk, the windows dimmed and a holographic image appeared on one side of the room depicting the outline of a tall, rectangular blue box.

“Gentlemen and Lady,” the Director stated authoritatively. “We have been retained to collect the object you see before you. Its exact description and location is unknown, but it’s believed to be secreted away in London somewhere. We don’t know who has it or what it does, only that it is technologically advanced and important to our client. Time is of the essence on this retrieval. Sarah Jane,” Pete said, nodding toward Sarah Jane to continue.

Sarah Jane was a petite dark haired middle aged woman dressed in a tailored but feminine business suit. She was clever and had keen investigative instincts. If Sarah Jane said something felt wrong, it usually was. “Gentlemen, my sources indicate that the blue box is an item of great interest to many people. I understand that Torchwood has it on its priority list and we all know what that means.”

The Tin Dog scoffed. “Weapon or somethin’ they think they can make into a weapon. You know how that lot are.”

“All the more reason for us to find it first,” the Doctor said and walked up to the image with his black rimmed glasses on to examine the rendering closer.

“Torchwood makes this a little more complicated,” Jack added, pacing back and forth with his hands shoved in his navy blue RAF coat. “I had a drink with one of their research assistants, cute guy, likes to talk after a few drinks and… a little tongue tango,” the Captain advised and winked at Roranicus who scowled at him. “Yvonne Hartman is hungry to make an impression and prove Torchwood as a powerful force to be reckoned with.”

“I’m sure you can handle Torchwood. You always do,” Pete said and paused. “There is one more complication.” Everyone except the Doctor looked at him. The Doctor continued his examination of the hologram absorbing every detail available. “I have it on good authority Bad Wolf’s team is also under contract to retrieve the blue box,” Pete finished.

“Bad Wolf, that could be bad. We don’t exactly have the best interactions with them,” Rory said, rubbing his face in deep thought.

“Are you kiddin’ me! Do you know what those gingers did the last time we crossed paths!” Mickey exclaimed, a pained look crossing his face.

Jack smiled. “Yeah, well you didn’t seem to be complaining too much at the time. Neither did Roranicus. Gotta give them props for creativity,” Jack said, grinning broadly as he thought about exactly how distracting the ladies of the Powell Agency could be.

“Bad Wolf does make it a bit more enticing,” the Doctor acknowledged, upon hearing the name Bad Wolf. He rocked back on his heels with a mischievous expression on his face as he contemplated this development.

“This is not a game Doctor. This is a serious mission and I don’t want a repeat of Amsterdam,” the Director said with a distasteful look on his face when he said “Amsterdam.”

Roranicus and the Tin Dog groaned and banged their heads on the table. Jack grinned. “Oh, I dunno Director, we may not have accomplished the whole mission but we did make an impression on the locals,” Jack said with a smirk at the Doctor who pretended to be absorbed examining a file on the Director’s desk. “And if we have to do a little commingling to get the job done… so be it. I mean, have you seen the legs on Pond? Now there’s a…”

“Oi!” Roranicus interrupted. “You can just get your mind off the opposition’s legs!”

“Take it easy Roranicus, I know you and those legs got a bit better acquainted last time. Who knows, maybe this time…” Jack suggested and winked again.

Mickey glared at the Captain. “Oh no, we’re not lettin’ them win this time. It was embarrassin’ last time we met!”

“I wasn’t embarrassed,” Jack responded.

“Yeah, well you like bein’ naked in public!” the Tin Dog snarked back.

The Director sighed and shook his head. “No distractions this time. The blue box is a priority and not just for the commission we’ll make. If Torchwood wants that as bad as we think, then Archangel might not be too far behind and we all know how bad that would be.”

The Doctor looked up and stared hard at the Director. Archangel was the biggest criminal conglomeration on the planet run by his arch nemesis, the Master, a mad man whose only goal was complete world domination. If the Master wanted the blue box then no power on Earth would prevent the Doctor from getting there first.

“Try and keep focused! If the Master gets the blue box, we’re all done for. Besides, not all of us were left naked to streak through the streets of Amsterdam,” the Doctor said to his team, sniffing and trying not to look pleased at his memory of Amsterdam.

“No, some of us were off snoggin’ Bad Wolf over chips in some café while his team was bein‘ humiliated,” Roranicus dryly reminded him.

“That is completely inaccurate!“ the Doctor denied. “We were just exchanging intel,” he explained, and began shoving numerous items in the never-ending pockets of his trench coat.

The Tin Dog looked over at him. “Is that what it’s called now?” he asked with a sly grin.

Sarah Jane walked over to stand amongst them. “Gentlemen, enough blogging! The Director is quite right. We have a job to do and the Director expects you to accomplish it quickly. Now move all of you,” she ordered. All of them stood up, some of them saluting her and ambled off following the Doctor who was already itching to run off and start the investigation. After they were all gone, she sighed and looked at the Director who was pouring them each a snifter of brandy. “It’s like a house full of school boys,” she murmured as she clinked glasses with him.

**********************

While the Director was meeting with his team, the infamous Bad Wolf‘s team was gathering in a secret suite on the fifth floor of Harrods on Brompton Road in London. Unlike the Director’s penthouse, this suite was decorated in a feminine haute couture design preferred by their leader, the Matriarch.

The Matriarch was short in stature but not in volume or in stubborn determination. She had lived most of her life in one of the toughest estates in London, but was just as comfortable in a posh tea room as she was at the local pub. She waltzed into the their stylish secret suite, dressed in designer jeans and trademark pink hoody, carrying a plethora of Harrods shopping bags. Her team was already assembled either lounging on the pink divan reading magazines, making tea or pacing in front of the wall of reflective windows looking out over the city.

She plunked her shopping bags down and surveyed the room, her eyes drawn to Bad Wolf standing before the windows, dressed in her jeans, purple jumper and bright blue leather jacket staring out at the city. Bad Wolf, the team leader was a petite blonde with a smile that lit up any room. People who met her were often deceived by her bubbly personality and compassionate nature. The truth was that she was clever and often crafted plans on the run and no one could run like her. She had gained her knowledge not only with books but by living a life day after day and throwing herself head first into adventure. Often called jeopardy friendly, she was fearless and would stare down time itself to protect those she held dear. She was an expert shot but preferred not to carry a weapon. Rumor had it she had once faced down the Cult of Skaro who were a bunch of homicidal ethnic cleansing nutters bent on taking over the world. It’s said she defeated them with a wave of her hand turning all their plans to dust.

The Healer was Bad Wolf’s second in command and was recruited from one of the finest medical programs in the country. She was a dark, intelligent beauty who had proven herself more than capable when she lead a group of fellow medical interns to thwart terrorists who had taken Royal Hope Hospital hostage. Bad Wolf had seen her quick thinking, steely determination and indomitable bravery and was immediately impressed. Despite her heroic actions, the hospital administration and her cowardly attending physician wanted to punish her for standing up for what was right and Bad Wolf couldn’t abide by that. The Matriarch offered her an invitation for employment and even helped her complete her education and internship. The Healer had practically walked the Earth in gratitude and several members of the team owed their life to her quick thinking.

Next was Donna who was a whiz at organization and puzzles. She could type over a hundred words a minute and could tear through any bureaucratic tangles and zero in on important information. She was a force to be reckoned with and had reduced even the most hardened and arrogant official to a trembling mass of goo. Donna, or as she was sometimes referred to, the Ginger General, had single handedly brought down one of Archangel’s drug operations that was selling dangerous pharmaceuticals which they marketed to the public as a weight loss pill. She had personally apprehended the head of Archangel’s drug operations, Miss Foster, and literally dragged her by the hair to the National Crime Agency head quarters. No one mucked about with Donna or anyone she cared about. No one.

Finally, there was Pond. She was a young grifter who caught the Matriarch’s eye when she observed her working an executive at Vitex corporate headquarters dressed up as a tarty police woman kiss-o-gram. Pond lived for adventure and excitement and was fearless to the point of risking her life. She had conned her way in and out of several tight situations with her confidence and daring. Daredevil tendencies not withstanding, she also was patient, knew that sometimes you had to wait for opportunity to come knocking. She even often said she’d waited a lifetime for the adventure she now enjoyed with her team.

The Matriarch made her way into the middle of the room which her team often jokingly called the “pink palace” since it was decorated with a mixture of hot pink, white and black furnishings, all lush, expensive and as exclusive as they were. Donna brought in tea and the women gathered, curling up on the Victorian fuchsia velvet divan or relaxing on the white leather sofa with the soft furry pink and black pillows as the Matriarch poured tea and passed around a tray of French almond pastries. Everyone ooed over the sweet treats except Bad Wolf. She had a dislike for anything French ever since she was betrayed by double agent Reinette aka the Madame. Reinette, as it turned out, worked any angle that suited her needs even if it hurt someone who was a friend. Reinette’s stinging final words to Bad Wolf were “It’s just business, ma petite. No hard feelings.”

Finally, the Matriarch began her debriefing. “All right ladies, we have a new client and a high rollin’ one at that. He’s asked us to retrieve a special item for ‘im. It’s called the blue box,” she explained and passed out several pink folders containing renderings of a rectangular shaped blue box and a summary of information on everything they knew about the item. The team immediately began paging through the dossiers.

“Torchwood has it on their priority list,” Bad Wolf said with a raised brow. “That’s never good.”

“I’ll say!” Donna agreed. “Last thing they had on priority was Atmos and we all know how that turned out,” Donna said, reminding them of their mission to infiltrate Torchwood headquarters at Canary Wharf and free a young genius by the name of Luke Rattigan who was allegedly being held captive by Yvonne Hartman to design the Atmos device. Atmos was marketed as a GPS instrument installed in almost all modern automobiles in the world. Of course, being from Torchwood, it had a far deadlier purpose. Atmos produced an invisible gas meant to make the population more agreeable and controllable. UNIT had been too well known to get inside so had retained the Powell Agency to retrieve Mr. Rattigan so they could find a counter measure to the Atmos devices. Of course, boy genius as Donna liked to call him, was enjoying his time at Torchwood. It wasn’t until Donna and Bad Wolf dragged him down to the bowels of Torchwood to show him what happened when he was not longer useful to Yvonne, that he became a bit more helpful. The whole thing had been even more complicated when the Gallifreyans showed up.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement with Donna. The Healer spoke up next. “I don’t suppose we’ll be running into the Gallifreyan boys on this one?”

“Oh I don’t know, could be fun to beat them to this blue box and who knows….maybe we can have a bit of fun along the way,” Amy said, with a mischievous look on her face.

The Matriarch set her tea cup down with a bang. “We are not gonna let those bloomin’ Gallihoosits beat us to this box. Now, I want you all focused. Remember, we’ve got assets they don’t have, she announced and unzipped her hoody showing her cleavage.

Bad Wolf grimaced. “Oh Gawd! Seriously?” she asked and shook her head.

“Zip it missy! You use wot you got. Now, are we clear on the goal here? We don’t’ need any more distractions like in Amsterdam,” the Matriarch reminded them and then stared at Donna and Pond who were trying to hide their smiles.

The Healer set her folio down and looked at the Matriarch with a smile. “Get the blue box and make it quick.”

“Don’t let the blokes get even a smidge near us,” Donna inserted.

“Make ‘em eat our dust,” Pond agreed.

“That’s my girls,” the Matriarch smiled, nodding her head. “Now then, get your gear and shift. If you hurry, you might make it back in time for the Isolus gala.”

Bad Wolf smiled and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Ma’am,” she said cheekily.

The Matriarch squinted at her. “No jeans or trainers, Missy. I want you all lookin’ your best for the gala. You hear me?”

They all acknowledged in unison and marched out of the suite. The Matriarch sighed and pulled out her pink mobile, hitting speed dial. “Hello, sweetheart. We may need your help on this one. Are you ready to get a bit of payback from the Gallihoosit boys?” The Matriarch smiled in response to whatever was said into her mobile. “Good, I’ll be in touch.” She rang off and sat back enjoying her tea and clicked on the telly.

 

 

 

 

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  
This story archived at <http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=46806>


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so burnt out from writing Victorian that I worked on editing chapter 2 of this story rather than stare at a blank screen. LOL! Thanks to my Whovian sistahs timelord1, who_in_whoville and aintafraidanoghosts who have been there for me, especially lately. Things start to get competitive between the two teams - this chapt is just a taste - wait until Chapt 3!
> 
> * * *

“Henriks? Seriously?” Donna asked as Bad Wolf’s team stood before the multistory department store entrance watching shoppers enter and leave while traffic whizzed by behind them.

The Healer shook her mobile. “Maybe the GPS is off?” she wondered.

“Or maybe the Matriarch is sendin’ us on another of her fashion runs,” Amy said with a raised eyebrow eyeing the exiting shoppers.

Rose rolled her eyes. “It’s not funny, and she wouldn’t do that. Not with this job, anyway,” Bad Wolf said, smiling slightly. “Have to admit, if our contact is feelin’ a bit skittish, this isn’t a bad choice for a meetin’ place,” Bad Wolf acknowledged, staring up at the building.

“Right, well, no use standin’ here like a bunch of gawkin' tourists. Let’s get to it,” Donna announced and marched inside.

The Healer shrugged and followed her trailed by Pond and then finally Bad Wolf. Henriks was a high end retail store with polished white marble floors and a light and airy interior. Each floor was divided up into sections such as home goods, electronics or apparel. The team hadn’t made it far on the ground floor when Pond stopped and zeroed in on the cosmetics counter and a familiar slender brown headed man leaning against the counter chatting up the blonde sales girl.

Pond smirked “You girls see what I see?” she asked.

“Bloody hell. The Gallifreyans are here already,” Donna exclaimed with an annoyed expression.

“Roranicus looks a bit lonely, Pond. Maybe you should pay ‘im a visit,” Bad Wolf suggested with a grin, knowing Pond could work Roranicus for information and maybe a bit more if she was lucky.

“Love to,” Pond said, unbuttoning her jacket and walking with purpose toward him. Pond fluffed out her hair and made sure she put enough swing in her walk so Roranicus would notice her short skirt and long legs.

Bad Wolf rolled her eyes. “Tell me she didn’t take what the Matriarch said seriously?” she groaned.

“Nawww, she’s just doin’ it for Roranicus. You know how he is. Doesn’t take much to fluster ‘im,” Donna announced as they watched Pond walk up and tap Roranicus on the shoulder. A startled look crossed his face before his eyes skimmed her up and down and a dopey smile lit up his face. Pond casually leaned on the counter next to him dismissing the sales girl and obviously had Roranicus completely under the spell of her charms.

Donna and Bad wolf smirked at each other as the Healer scanned the area. “If the boys are here, maybe we should split up and cover more ground. We don’t’ want them to get to our contact first,” the Healer suggested, shoving her mobile into the pocket of her burgundy leather coat.

“Agreed,” acknowledge Bad Wolf. “Let’s move.”

As the ladies spread out looking for their contact who said she would be dressed in a black suit with a silver cat broach on her lapel, it wasn’t long before they saw more of the Gallifreyans. Bad Wolf ducked behind a rack of clothes as she saw the Captain swagger by, stopping to flirt with a sales girl. Rose rolled her eyes and quickly dashed away.

The Captain did not miss the glimpse of Bad Wolf as she dashed off. “Captain to all hands, there’s indication of our gorgeous competition running about the shop. I just caught a glimpse of blonde wolf babe darting across…..” He paused, looking up at the large artistic silver lettering on the wall indicating the designer section he was standing in. “Hoss Intropia,” he finished.

“Tin Dog here, I’m in appliances and I don’t see the white rabbit yet. You sure that description was right? Haven’t seen anyone wearin’ a cat pin.”

“That’s what the message said. Could be someone trying to throw us off. You heard from Roranicus?” the Captain asked, nodding at a male sales associate dressed in a slim cut Gucci suit who was giving him a flirtatious looks.

“Not a word. If them Powell chicks are here, he might be in a situation,” Tin Dog responded as he continued walking through electronics keeping an eye out for not only their contact but now any of the Powell agents as well.

The Captain grinned broadly. “I’m sure Roranicus can handle Pond and if he’s lucky he’s definitely got his hands full of something!”

Tin Dog stopped and scowled. “Wot ‘bout the Doctor?”

Jack handed a card with his number on it to cute sales boy and continued through the women’s section. “Oh, I’m sure it won’t be long before he and our friendly wolf stumble across one another. Just keep your eye out for our white rabbit. Captain out.” The Captain continued winding his way through the store wishing he was a fly on the wall when Bad Wolf and the Doctor ran into each other as he knew they would. They were like two halves of an attractive force forever being pulled together.

As the Captain predicted, it wasn’t long before Bad Wolf ran into the Doctor, literally. She was following a woman in black, trying to get a glimpse of her lapel when she bounced off of the Doctor who was tinkering with an executive puzzle box on display.

He grinned broadly when Bad Wolf bumped into him. “Hello, Bad Wolf,” he said cheerily.

She grinned back. “Hello, Doctor. Fancy meetin’ you here,” she said, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets.

The Doctor adjusted his black rimmed glasses and gazed down at her. “Oh, I don’t think it’s so surprising, BW. After all, this is a fine shopping establishment. Great place to people watch.”

“Right and you’re just here to people watch? BW? Really” she asked, crossing her arms.

“What’s wrong with BW?” he asked, smirking a bit.

Bad Wolf cocked an eyebrow at him in question.

“BW!” he said emphasizing the “B.” It’s got pizzazz and lots of potential. “BW, Bad Wolf, Blond Woman, Bandwidth,” he suggested.

She grinned and decided to play along. “Buckwheat, Best Wishes, Bullwinkle?”

“Bacteriostatic Water!” he exclaimed.

“Seriously, you’re callin’ me bacteria?” she asked, cocking her head to the side and wrinkling her brow in disbelief.

The Doctor flustered., “Uh, blessed Wanderer?” he asked, watching her give him her “I’m not amused expression” before finishing with “Beautiful woman?”

She grinned that special grin that showed just the tip of her tongue. “Better,” she acknowledged. “So, you people watchin’ for anyone in particular?”

The Doctor stared deeply into her hazel eyes, entranced by this golden girl who he couldn’t stop thinking about ever since they had first bumped into each other in Prague. He grinned at her. “Welll, I dunno. Certainly seems like I found someone doesn’t it?” he answered and waggled his eyebrows.

A young woman in black walked by and both their eyes were drawn to her. Without another word, they walked after her and before long were on either side of her looking and finding a silver cat pin shining at them.

“I hear there’s a plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula,” Rose casually said, before the Doctor could say a word.

The petite auburn haired woman slowed. “And the fires are burning, ten million miles wide,” she responded.

“Bet it’s brilliant! Wouldn’t you like to see something like that?” the Doctor asked her. She stopped and turned to Rose and the Doctor who were now standing side by side.

“I’m Novice Hame and you are Bad Wolf and the Doctor?” she asked softly.

They nodded. “Funny, I didn’t think I would meet the two of you together. I suppose it’s for the best though. There’s not much time.” She pulled out a flash drive and held it out. “The Sisters of Plentitude once had an impressive archive that recorded centuries worth of history from all our missions around the world,” she said, her voice filled with sadness. “I know you seek the blue box and I believe this information may assist you.”

“You said once What happened?” the Doctor asked as Bad Wolf plugged the flash drive into her mobile and copied the data.

“The Carrionites,” she responded sadly

Bad Wolf looked up. “You mean that cult that thought they could control the world with some sort of word voo doo? I thought that the international task force with UNIT, Interpol and MI-5 broke them up?”

“They did,” the Doctor acknowledged. “No one’s seen or heard from that lot in years.”

Novice Hame looked at them nodding and briefly closed her light grey eyes. “Some escaped and were offered sanctuary by Archangel.”

The Doctor‘s face hardened. “Archangel offers no one sanctuary. If they gave them a place to hide, it’s because they wanted something the Carrionites had,” the Doctor stated, all traces of his light hearted mood erased.

“So, are you tellin’ us that Archangel sent them to steal your archive?” Bad Wolf asked.

“They took what they wanted, destroyed the rest and then…” Novice Hame stopped and tensed looking around the store nervously.

Immediately Bad Wolf and the Doctor prepared to face the worst but when they turned, they saw Donna marching forward with the Captain in handcuffs looking amused.

Bad Wolf let Novice Hames know it was all right and then looked from Donna who was tugging on the Captain to the Captain who seemed to be enjoying being handcuffed. “What’s this about then?” she asked.

“Kinky fantasies?” the Captain suggested, glancing at Donna who rolled her eyes and glared at him.

“I found Captain Innuendo here followin’ the Healer. Apparently, they want us to do the work for them,” Donna said and looked at the Doctor with speculation.

Rose cocked a hip out and crossed her arms, looking sternly at the Captain.

“Hey there, Bad Wolf, lookin’ good today,” the Captain said flirtatiously while looking Bad Wolf up and down. The Doctor was frowning at him. “Oh, come on! I’m not so green that I need the Healer to find our lead. Please,” the Captain defended himself.

Donna stared him down. “Watch it, pretty boy or…..” she said trailing off as she looked behind the Doctor and Bad Wolf.

Rose turned around to see Novis Hame running away. She thought about running after her and demanding more information, but her priority was to review the data downloaded on her mobile first. She could always have Pond follow her.

“Oh, this can’t be good,” the Doctor worried and shoved the flash drive which he’d taken from Bad Wolf into his coat pocket.

The Captain twisted his wrists a few times and threw the handcuffs aside. “Maybe next time, Ginge,” he said as he walked up to stand next to the Doctor. “Want me to go after her?”

Before the Doctor could answer, the Healer ran up. “We’ve got trouble.”

The Healer never exaggerated, especially about trouble. “Go on,” Bad Wolf asked the Healer as she pulled our her mobile to text Pond. “All communications in the store have been cut. I can’t get a signal on my mobile,” the Healer explained.

Bad Wolf found her signal to Pond had failed and tried again. Something was jamming it. The others also tried but none of them could get any type of a signal despite the fact that they all had mobiles with cutting edge tech not available to the public. “Let me see,” the Doctor asked and pulled out his infamous sonic screwdriver. Rose’s eyebrows shot up. The Doctor’s sonic was legendary. She had heard it was capable of everything from unlocking any known lock, blowing up electronics, scanning for explosives to making the perfect toast.

The lights went out including the emergency lights. The entire store was in darkness. They could hear people gasping and starting to panic. A light flashed over at them, “Oi! We’ve got company!” The Tin Dog shouted from the escalator, flashing his torch down the escalator. They heard screaming and what sounded like weapons fire.

The group ran toward the Tin Dog and raced down the escalator to the second floor where they found Pond and Roranicus pelting people dressed as mannequins with dishes, drinking glasses and kettles.

“It’s the Autons!” the Healer yelled as the mannequin terrorists turned toward them and began firing. The Captain and Donna dove for a display of silver photo frames and candle sticks while Rose and the Healer ducked down behind stacked boxes of Espresso Makers. The Doctor was across from them behind boxes of pots and pans. They could still here people screaming on the floor beneath them.

Pond yelled out, “The exits are locked!”

“We’re completely cut off. They’ve disarmed all the alarms,” Roranicus confirmed.

The Healer pulled out a small canister from her jacket and nodded at Bad Wolf who nodded back. A flash grenade would emit a burst of light that would blind the Autons giving them time to disarm them. Bad Wolf whistled sharply three times. Donna jumped on top of Jack who grinned and covered his eyes. The Doctor looked over and saw what they were doing and let out his own whistle, warning the Tin Dog who had taken up a position at the escalators. Pond had already yanked Roranicus down behind a display. The Healer threw the grenade, and the flash lit up the entire floor for several seconds.

Bad Wolf and the Healer rushed the temporarily blinded Autons. The Doctor stood up awed as he watched Bad Wolf and the Healer execute several graceful kicks and throws knocking the Autons down while Donna ran over with a heavy fry pan and thumped them over the head and tied them up with electrical cords she ripped off appliances.

Jack walked over, smiling. “I love a woman with a fry pan,” he said and winked at her.

“Oh, stop it,” she snapped.

“We need to find our contact,” the Healer reminded everyone.

“Novice Hame gave us the data, but she was tellin’ us about her order bein’ attacked by the Carrionites so the Autons bein here is no coincidence,” Bad Wolf remarked.

“No, the Autons are Archangels assassins in training,” the Doctor explained, pacing back and forth in thought.

“They sent the rubbish budget assassins after us? I’m insulted.” Donna snarked, crossing her arms..

“Look, we need to find this Novice Hame. She might be able to tell us more ‘bout what happened to her order,” the Healer suggested before Roranicus and Amy ran up to them. Tin Dog pulled out his gun and began firing as more Autons approached from the lower level.

The Doctor glared at Tin Dog. He hated guns and didn’t like his team to carry them. Roranicus pulled out his sonic gun which shot a burst of energy out that knocked your opponent out or down and ran over to help Tin Dog hold the escalator. “There’s at least twenty of ‘em on the way up,” Roranicus called back to them.

“Maybe she went up to the third floor?” Amy suggested. Unfortunately, Tin Dog and Roranicus fell back as the Autons had overwhelmed them and some of them were heading up the escalator to the third floor. “The lifts!” the Healer suggested.

“Not exactly working with the electric out,” Mickey pointed out, smirking as they all ran toward them. The Healer glared at him, annoyed at his snarky attitude.

“Doesn’t matter,” Bad Wolf called out over her shoulder. When they reached the lifts, the Doctor used his sonic to pry them open. They could see that the lift was stuck on the first floor. “Right, time for a climb,” Bad Wolf announced, looking up the lift shaft.

Donna sighed heavily. “You’re enjoyin’ this, aren’t you?” she asked caustically to Bad Wolf, who just grinned at her.

“Come on, Donna! Live a little!” the Doctor called out, grinning just as broadly as Bad Wolf.

The Healer pulled some climbing gear and cording out of hidden pockets inside her leather jacket and handed them to bad wolf. “Sorry, boys, we only have enough gear for us,” the Healer told them, smiling that they were better prepared.

“Oh, that’s no problem!” the Doctor announced. A little jiggery pokery can fix that!”

“Don’t worry ‘bout us. I got us covered,” the Tin Dog bragged and pulled out some climbing gear of his own.

Of course, the Doctor was already modifying Bad Wolf’s gear and attaching it to the lift cables. Bad Wolf jumped over easily catching the cable and attaching herself to it followed by the Doctor. Bad Wolf looked at him and grinned. “Ready?” she asked.

“Always!” he answered and yellowed, “Allons-y!” as he activated the pulley system which shot them upwards to the third floor doors. He again opened them so they could climb out. The rest of the team followed in pairs. the Tin Dog and the Healer were next. The Tin Dog almost fell backward into the shaft but the Healer caught him and tugged him toward her until he almost landed on top of her.

He was embarrassed, but the Healer didn’t gloat and said a terse, “You’d have done it for me.” She tried to hide her smile at the intimate contact. She had secretly always thought the Tin Dog was a bit fine.

Roranicus and Amy followed and easily hopped off in unison as if they climbed lift cables together before. No one missed how in sync they were. Next was Donna holding onto the Captain for dear life. When they made the leap, Donna ended up tumbling on top of the Captain who grinned at her. Donna rolled her eyes, stood up and held out her hand to lift him up. She walked away muttering about cocky, conceited blokes.

They soon heard running and shots fired and ran toward the noise, sliding to a stop in electronics where they saw the Autons pursuing Novice Hame who was hiding behind some large flat screen televisions. They split up to see if they could get behind the ten Autons who were in pursuit of the novice.

Rose crawled and slithered across the floor until she was off to the side of them. The Doctor may have grinned watching her bum. Jack shot him a look and gave him the thumbs up sign. Tin Dog fired some shots which blew up several televisions and stereo systems near the Autons drawing their fire toward him and splitting the Autons up into two groups. The Captain popped up and hurdled over a display of cameras, drawing more of their fire. Roranicus had snuck around and popped up behind the group closest to him and fired his sonic weapon knocking out two of them. Pond and the Healer, meanwhile, jumped out of their hiding places and took out a few more with some acrobatic aikido moves. By this time, Bad Wolf had pulled out and activated a round device from her pocket that looked like a lemon tart. She grinned as she attached it to a large screen telly, powering it on which caught the attention of yet more Autons who rushed over converging on it. Unfortunately for these Autons, it not only powered it on but eventually overloaded it causing an explosion.

The Doctor, not to be out done in the explosion department, had prepared his own explosive devices to cause a chain reaction explosion of all the flat screen televisions along one wall. By this time, it was chaos and the room was filling with smoke. Rose had just about made here way to where Novice Hame was hiding. They were side by side behind electronics display. She looked over at the frightened novice who stared back at her in fear. Bad Wolf nodded and shouted. “Run! Get out the front.” She tossed the novice an explosive device that she explained could be attached to the glass entrance doors. Novice Hame mouthed, “Thank you,” and ran for the escalator while Rose popped up and shouted, “Oi, you Autons! You’re a sorry lot. Can’t even catch a nun, can you!”

The Autons focused on Rose and she dashed around the smoke filled room in and around the televisions, hurtling over DVD players, surround sound systems and miscellaneous electronic devices. She soon realized there were still too many Autons firing on them. It was time to cut their losses. She stood up and shouted, “Emergency program one!”

“Acknowledged!” responded the Healer.

Pond grabbed Roranicus by the lapels and snogged him. “Sorry, time to run!” she explained and ran off, leaving him confused.

“It’s about time!” Donna shouted back and made her way in the direction she saw a flash of blue jacket running.

The Doctor set off another chain of explosions and pulled an explosive device out of his coat. “Jack! Remember Vesuvius!” he shouted.

“Oh, shit!” Jack muttered. “Tin Dog, Roranicus, it’s volcano day!”

The Gallifreyans were soon following the Powell ladies toward the stairs and up to the roof. Soon a massive explosion rocked the building. Bad Wolf and her team turned and looked at Team Gallifrey. “It’s been fun but we have to be off now. See you around, Doctor!” Bad Wolf shouted, winked and then the ladies turned and howled like wolves as they jumped off the side of the building. The Gallifreyans ran over in shock and amazement as the ladies slowed their descent with antigravity guns so that they landed as if they had only jumped a few feet. They looked up one last time laughing at they ran off.

Roranicus looked over to the Doctor. “Don’t s’pose we have any of those?”

“It’s a bit flash,” the Doctor sniffed, obviously envious and perhaps a bit sad that Bad Wolf was gone.

“Yeah, but handy. Now we’re stuck here,” the Tin Dog complained.

“No, wer'e not,” Jack said and tapped his phone. Mobile started to work a while ago.”

A black unmarked helicopter made its way over, dropping a ladder, and the team climbed up. Once on board, the Doctor handed the Tin Dog the flash drive and looked down toward the street. “See you soon, BW,” he said and smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to my Whovian sistahs timelord1 , who_in_whoville and aintafraidanoghosts who took a quick peek at this plot. This chapter - Some of the Gallifreyans decide not to play fair with the Powells. An old friend arrives to help out the Powells.
> 
> * * *

The ladies of the Powell Agency gathered together in a cozy dark corner of their favorite bookstore, Librum Tabernam or the Lib as they liked to call it. Donna lounged on one of the overstuffed worn green velvet chairs with her feet propped up on the mismatched stool and tapped away on her ipad at a blurring pace as everyone gathered around her and Bad Wolf to review the data Novice Hame had given them.

The Healer stared intently at the data on the ipad and looked up at Bad Wolf. “This is amazing,” she said, shaking her head. “This history goes back centuries.”

Pond Leaned over the back of Donna’s chair and read over her shoulder. Donna paused and looked up at her annoyed. “What?” Pond snapped. Donna sighed and went back to work.

“There,” Bad Wolf said, tapping the ipad. Donna slapped her hand away.

“Oi! No touchin’ the tech,” Donna reminded her and glared at all of them. The last time any of them had touch her ipad, there had been a coffee spilling incident which left it destroyed and later there had been a electromagnetic charge from a microchip hidden in a bracelet incident which left another one destroyed. After that, Donna instituted the “No Touching the Tech” rule.

“This blue box or some version of it has been around for centuries,” the Healer remarked, fascinated by the myths and legends surrounding it.

Pond sat on the edge of Donna’s chair. “So, it really is a blue box then? It’s not some mystical hocus pocus reason to call it that.”

“No,” Bad Wolf said firmly, shaking her head. “There’s a picture of it. Donna can you flip back a page?”

Donna slid her finger across the ipad until a hand drawn picture on a cave wall appeared. “No way,” Donna whispered.

“That’s it?” Pond asked, disbelief lacing her voice. “This is just like that drawing in our debriefing package. I mean, I thought that was just a loose description not the only image of it.”

The Healer sat upright with a confused look. “It‘s bigger than I thought but, it just looks like a big blue box with… what is that thing on the top of it?”

“We’re bein’ sent after some bright blue crate? That’s it?” Pond asked, standing up and pacing.

Bad Wolf stared at the image fascinated. “Well yeah, but it‘s not simple. Everythin’ written ’bout it sort of says that it’s hard to see almost like it blends in where ever it is which is why most of the times all you see in the records is just this big blue rectangle with that thingy on top. It’s sort of like a chameleon so people can’t see it well and those that do seem to have a hard time rememberin’ what it looks like. Most of the drawins are real simple, just a big blue rectangle. Aren’t they Donna?” Donna stared at the picture as if mesmerized. “Donna?” Rose asked, shaking her shoulder. ”

“What?” she snapped and looked at everyone..

“You all right?” Bad Wolf asked, cocking her head to the side with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Donna responded gruffly. “Now then, this blue box thing’s been around. There’s even one mention of it with Camelot and King Arthur. Some rubbish ‘bout Merlin’s box. It’s a bit weird. All these records mention it but never what happens to it.”

“Are you sure this isn’t some practical joke by the Gallifreyans?” Pond asked.

“Positive,” Bad Wolf answered.

“So when and where was the last sighting?” the Healer asked.

Donna flipped through several pages on her ipad until she came to the most current record. “You’re not gonna flippin’ believe this!” she exclaimed.

“Go on, spill!” Pond demanded, sitting down on the edge of the chair again, her short skirt riding up.

“Don’t you ever wear somethin’ practical?” the Healer asked staring at Pond’s short skirt. Most of the team dressed in jeans, jumpers, dress shirts, polos or t-shirts with assorted denim or leather jackets. Pond, however, had her own fashion sense, often choosing short skirts, tights or denim minis with equally tight but covered tops and jackets, layering all very stylishly.

“Oi, if you’ve got it flaunt it! Besides, it gets me information or into places with very little fuss,” she responded.

“Enough about fashion!” Donna snipped. Once she had their attention she continued. “It was last seen in this town in Norway, Verdens Ende, “The End of the World.”

“That sounds ominous,” Pond remarked.

“Sounds like we‘re headin' to Norway then,” Bad Wolf said cheerfully as Donna quickly began making travel arrangements for them.

***********

The Gallifreyans, however, were hours ahead of them. Verdens Ende was a scenic spot on the southernmost tip of the island of Tjøme, on the Southern coast of Norway with panoramic views of the Skagerrak, and fishing villages and even had a replica of a Vippefyr which was a navigational signal. The area was composed of a rocky shore and many traditional stone houses.

“So whadda are we lookin’ for again?” the Tin Dog asked as the group walked along the rocky shore line.

“Something that’s been here for a while and when I say a while, I mean a very long time,” the Doctor responded as he easily hopped from rock to rock, his long brown coat flaring in the wind as he made his way toward an old decrepit and falling down house on a point of land furthest from the tourist area. Roranicus had jogged off into town to see if he could charm any of the locals into providing them with any local legends about the blue box or what happened to it. The Captain, was hitting the local pubs, as well, to see what he could find out.

Eventually, they reached the house and began exploring. The doctor found a few loose boards which led to dark cellar which had not been used in at least fifty years. While he explored that, the Tin Dog walked around peering into disintegrating cupboards and scanning the walls looking for any signs of technology. Unfortunately, their exploration did not go unnoticed and a couple of the local police arrived to question the Tin Dog. Soon, the Tin Dog was escorted to the small local police headquarters leaving the Doctor the freedom to explore for clues about the Blue Box without further interference.

At the rural police head quarters, the Tin Dog was thoroughly question. “Now then, Mr. Dog. You do realize you were trespassing on property protected as an important historical site?” the local police official identifying himself as Officer Karl Arne asked.

“Not really no, I was just sort of lookin’ is all. Didn’t mean no harm,” the Tin Dog replied.

Officer Arne didn’t look like he believed him. Then, the Tin Dog had a thought of pure genius. He would not only provide the police with a legitimate alibi but would take care of another pesky problem. “Officer Arne, I can see that you’re a real clever bloke so let me be straight with ya. Ya see, I’m here investigatin’ an international ring of criminals, the Sybilline Sisterhood they call themselves. They’re these ruthless little hotties who stole somethin’ from a client and I heard they were gonna be in this area scopin’ it out for their next job.”

Officer Arne looked a bit more interested. “These birds are dead clever and use their womanly wiles to overwhelm and seduce upstandin’ blokes to ‘elp ‘em in their illegal activities. They are brutal. They come in, flash a little skin, promise a bloke everythin’ and then POW! Before you know it, they’ve ripped off half the town and skipped off. You know the type right?” the Tin Dog asked with an evil smile, knowing that he was about to pull out the rug from underneath the Powell ladies. Soon, they would learn not to mess with the Gallifreyans. Eventually, Officer Arne, allowed Mickey to pull out his ipad and after a few quick strokes while the Officer answered his mobile, he had created a profile of the Powells making them look like public menace number one.

With great relish, he showed it to the police officer along with his own quickly cobbled together official credentials. It wasn’t long before the Captain walked into the small police station looking for him after hearing that a stranger matching his description was escorted into the station. Jack walked in and smiled brightly winking at the Officer Arne.

“Officer Arne, nice to meet you! I see you’ve already met my associate.”

“Yes, yes he has been providing me with information regarding your investigation. Although, you should have registered with us the moment you arrived, your credentials have been authenticated and you‘re free to leave. Next time, you check with the police first. This is our jurisdiction after all,” officer Arne lectured sternly.

Jack smiled and played along. “You are absolutely right. Our bad,” he said and looked at the Tin Dog questioningly. The Tin Dog just grinned and showed him the ipad with the Powell girls pictures listed as wanted felons. The Captain grinned brightly, trying not to laugh. They left almost with a skip in their step and reminded the officer to be on the look out for the dangerous women.

They met up with the Doctor who was standing on a rock looking out over the water. Soon, Roranicus joined them. “Lots of legends about the box. It’s just weird. Everyone knows about how this tall blue box was here, but no one can describe the details or remember exactly where it was,” Roranicus explained, as he zipped up his jacket from the cold breeze off the water.

“I got the same as Roranicus from my trip to the local pub. They don’t like to talk about it much, but it’s like everyone just knew it was here and had been here for a while,” Jack agreed.

“You find anything in that house, Doctor?” the Tin Dog asked.

The Doctor sighed and turned to them. “Oh it was around here and near to that house. I’ve been detecting a strange background radiation, almost like it left an imprint behind.”

“Is it dangerous?” the Tin Dog asked, prepared to bolt off to be decontaminated.

“Nawww. No more dangerous than the standard radiation in these rocks here,” the Doctor answered, shifting his trainer clad feet a bit on the rock he was standing on.

The Tin Dog and Roranicus shifted a bit, looking at the rocks like they expected them to glow. “Um Doctor, you mean like every day you’re not gonna die radiation and not the bad your flesh will fall of kind, right?” Roranicus asked nervously.

Jack burst into laughter. “Come on boys, let’s grab some lunch and talk this thing through. Maybe we can get some more info on what happened to it.”

Not long into their lunch, a police officer arrived and informed the Tin Dog that they had apprehended the Sybilline Sisterhood and would he like to come to the station to confirm their identities. The Tin Dog grinned in response and quickly followed the officer out of the pub.

The Doctor looked at Jack. “Sybilline Sisterhood? What’s that all about?”

“Oh, the Tin Dog just arranged a little diversion for the Powells,” Jack responded, taking a sip of beer.

“What sort of diversion?” the Doctor asked, beginning to worry about what his team was up to while he investigated.

“The kind that will keep them out of our way for a while,” Jack answered, snickering.

“Oh that sounds bad,” Roranicus muttered, staring into his own beer.

The Doctor was not happy. “I take it,” he said in a tight voice, “that this involves the local law enforcement and not in a good way.”

“Well Doc,” Jack said, using his nickname for the Doctor which would not score him any bonus points. “The Tin Dog may have suggested the Powells were international criminals on the prowl. Now, it’s not our fault if the local police are easily led astray now is it?” he finished and winked at the Doctor.

The Doctor glared. “Jack,” he said, using the name for the Captain that only he used. “This is a monumentally bad idea. Do you really think the Matriarch is going to sit there while her agents are falsely accused and locked up in some local police cell?”

“Relax, the Tin Dog took care of everything. We’ve got plenty of time to get our intel and skip town before any of those girls sees the light of day.”

“And the fact that they will know that we are responsible? How does that play into this little plan?” the Doctor asked, clearly unhappy at the thought that the Powells would definitely have it in for them and that this would instigate not just a friendly competition, but all out war.

The Captain shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. They’re never gonna catch us. Look, if it makes you feel better, I’ll go check on the Tin Dog,” he said, looking a bit too confident as he left the Doctor and Roranicus in the restaurant.

Roranicus looked at the Doctor. “They’re gonna make us pay aren’t they?”

“Yep! That they will. For our sakes, we just better hope that they know not all of us was behind this little ploy.”

Meanwhile, at the police station. The ladies of the Powell agency were fuming as they paced around the small, sparse cell in the meager police station. They had just arrived in town and were inquiring about the Blue Box legend when the local police approached accusing them of being some international group of thieves. Despite Bad Wolf’s attempt to explain and Pond’s best efforts to charm them, the lot of them were taken into custody and detained in the small jail cell.

Donna was furious and glared at Pond. “Told you not to flirt like that! They obviously play for the other team!” Donna complained.

“How was I supposed to know that!” Pond retorted. “Besides, I was just being friendly. I wasn’t trying to seduce anyone,” she defended, shoving her hands into her dark gray leather jacket pocket. She was miffed, she was not dressed in anything skimpy today, just jeans, layered tops and her jacket so it wasn‘t like she was vamping it up.

Donna just stared at her in disbelief. Bad Wolf stepped between them. “That’s enough. Pond did what Pond does best and it didn’t work this time. None of us were able to convince ‘em we were just bein’ tourists.”

“I think we were sabotaged,” the Healer suggested. She stood up from the bench she was sitting on and started pacing. “It’s just too coincidental that they didn’t just stop us but threw us in jail and for what? We don‘t look like any band of thieves and who is this Sybilline Sisterhood anyway?”

“Healer is right!” Donna agreed. “I mean look at us! We don’t exactly look like a sisterhood of tarty thieves,” Donna scoffed. “Well, maybe Pond,” she teased, looking sideways at Pond who glared at her in return.

Pond stomped over and leaned against the wall next to Donna and the two had a glaring war. “No, we are not tarts or thieves or any of the above. We didn’t exactly break any laws and didn’t even resist being brought in. Someone’s settin’ us up,” Bad Wolf said, and crossed her arms thinking about who was behind this. Then, it hit her and she looked over at the Healer who stared back at her.

The Healer turned to Bad Wolf “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“You think they would? I mean, it’s a bit underhanded,” Bad Wolf replied, pacing back and forth in the small square cell not believing the Doctor would authorize something so unethical. She knew the Doctor liked to win but he liked to do it by outwitting someone and being clever. This didn’t feel like something he would do.

They looked up as someone walked into the room. The Tin Dog smirked at them as he spoke perfect Norwegian to their jailers. Soon, the Captain walked in as well and grinned at them. The Healer and Bad Wolf walked up and leaned against the bars glaring at them and caught bits and pieces of the conversation which referred to them as a group of thieves and loose women wanted across Europe and warning that their notorious leader was not to be trusted.

“That’s a lie!” the Healer shouted out, eyes blazing. She was furious that they had done something so dirty as make up some sordid story about them and hack into Interpol records posting some rubbish about them. She was seething as she glared at the Tin Dog who she believed was primarily responsible for this.

The Captain whispered something to one of the arresting officers, winked at him and turned to walk out as the Bad Wolf and her team stared daggers at him. He and the Tin Dog paused at the door. “Pay back’s a bitch ain’t it. Hope you enjoy Norway as much as we did Amsterdam,” the Tin Dog quipped as he walked out with the Captain who grinned broadly at them.

“Oi! You know what happens to liars don’t ya!” Bad Wolf shouted out to their chuckling and exiting backs as the police officers looked at their prisoners sternly.

“Oh, but I’m gonna make those smarmy Gallifreyans pay!” Donna huffed, clearly ready to do bodily harm to them.

“Did you hear what they called us!” the Healer vented.

Pond stood up, her eyes blazing. “That’s it. This is war!”

“You said it sister!” Donna agreed and high fived Pond.

Bad Wolf slowly turned around. “Don’t worry. We’ll be outta here soon. The Matriarch’s not gonna let some Gallifreyan prats keep us locked up.”

While the women fumed over the next hour, the Matriarch was busy. She had already made contact with her faithful and trusted ally. He was already in Norway, ready, willing and able to assist the team should they require it. The Matriarch had suspected the Gallifreyans would pull some type of underhanded scheme and when the police had accused her of being some criminal mastermind, she was ready to start world war three. She had resources they couldn’t imagine and one of her resources was about to free her agents.

“They think they’re so clever, but they aren’t!” the Healer said, pacing back and forth opposite Bad Wolf. The door to the police station opened and in walked a tall, slender man dressed impeccably in a black suit. His short dark hair and piercing blue eyes were a welcome sight as he pulled open a briefcase and plopped documents on the desk of the police officer.

Bad Wolf stopped suddenly and smiled. “Ianto Jones,” she murmured pleased. Ianto Jones had been part of a case she and her team had worked and was one of the few people she trusted completely.

She would never forget the Cybus case. She and her team had worked undercover at Cybus Industries where he and his fiancé, Lisa were employed. Cybus was a technology company that invented and produced various technologies such as the latest ear bud communications devices. Their newest division was a cybernetics program, creating implants to help the blind see, the deaf, hear and cybernetic limb replacement. Unfortunately Cybus CEO, John Lumic, had plans to use such implants to create a new super human army which Cybus industries controlled, eventually using their cybernetic army to take control of the world.

Bad Wolf and her team had been retained by Mrs. Angela Price who suspected the implants in her daughter were not just giving her daughter the ability to see and hear, but were in fact controlling her. Unfortunately, her daughter disappeared before Mrs. Price could transport her to a UNIT facility for observation and it was believed her daughter was now being held by Cybus. The Powell agency was retained to coordinate with UNIT’s investigation into Cybus and retrieve Mrs. Price’s daughter away from the corrupt company.

The Gallifreyans were also undercover at Cybus for the purpose of stopping Lumic’s plan. They were taking an aggressive strategy to stop Lumic, one that would haunt them after it all played out. The Captain had a history with John Lumic having worked with him during his days at another intelligence agency. They had clashed over ethics and methodology many times. Their team had been zeroing in on a cyber terrorist group known as the Cybermen. Lumic wanted to take them alive no matter the cost so the Cybermen technology could be studied and replicated.

Lumic’s actions had nearly destroyed an entire town and its inhabitants. Upon learning of Lumic’s actions, the Captain intervened saving as many as he could and destroying all the Cybermen technology, injuring Lumic in the process. Lumic was permanently paralyzed from the waist down and dishonorably discharged from duty.

The Captain knew what Lumic was capable of and vowed to stop Cybus. He and the Gallifreyans launched a computer virus that would destroy Lumic’s technology and shut down the facility. The Doctor had been leery of the virus but trusted the Tin Dog and the Captain’s instincts that it had to be launched immediately. They all had been horrified to see that Lumic tried to stop it using his own virus which mutated their program. The mutated program , instead of deactivating the technology, produced a charge in the cybernetic equipment and systems. Many innocent employees, including Ianto’s fiancé, were killed by their company issued ear pods. Although the virus successfully shut down Cybus, it had been horrible to witness and there was a tremendous loss of life as a result. Not everyone died instantly. Bad Wolf and her team retrieved Mrs. Price’s daughter and had gone back for Lisa and Ianto when they realized they weren’t out; but it had been too late and they watched as Lisa died in Ianto’s arms just outside the facility.

The Gallifreyans had been devastated and the Captain in particular felt responsible. He had become quite close to both Lisa and Ianto, having infiltrated the company as a quality control officer. He had spent a great deal of time in Lisa’s department and both Ianto and Lisa knew who he was and trusted him implicitly, helping him to accomplish his mission. When Ianto learned it was the Captain’s team that launched the virus without warning anyone of what would happen, he blamed them for her death. The Captain had tried to speak to Ianto afterward, but Ianto’s only response was to punch him in the mouth and walk silently away.

Now, Ianto was there in Norway to help the Powells. Bad Wolf and her entire team had done everything they could to help Ianto work through his grief and channel his anger into something productive. He now worked with them on an unofficial capacity, running errands and assisting the Matriarch in day to day operations. Bad Wolf mused his being here was no accident. He would enjoy thwarting the Gallifreyans plans of locking them up. She watched as he walked over to their cell with an officer to unlock the door.

“Sorry I’m late, Ma’am. I was meeting with a contact who wanted to pass along some information he thought might be helpful to you,” he explained in his soft spoken slightly Welsh accented voice.

“Thanks, Ianto. I appreciate you comin’ over here and clarifyin’ things to the officers,” Bad Wolf said appreciatively, smirking slightly at the officers who looked unhappy. She knew the Gallifreyans had done a bang up job at convincing the police they were dangerous criminals and it wouldn’t have been easy for Ianto to convince them otherwise.

They were quickly released with very minimal apologies and many suspicious glances. Each of the team hugged Ianto in appreciation which made him blush. As they walked out, Bad Wolf began to smile as she quickly scanned Ianto’s information.

The Healer smirked back at her. “Ianto got the location didn’t he? And now, you have a plan don’t you?”

“Oh yeah. Those Gallifreyans think we’re stranded here and they’re gettin’ the information before us, but we already got what we need thanks to Ianto here,” Bad Wolf said and smiled gratefully at Ianto who inclined his head as they walked down the old cobblestone street.

“Just tell me we’re stickin’ it to them,” Donna said, smacking her fist into the palm of her other hand symbolically.

“Those boys need to be taught a lesson,” Pond agreed, still fuming that the boys had pulled one over on the them and disappointed that Roranicus would do something so devious and underhanded. She felt a bit stung that she had so misjudged him and never thought he would sink to this level to gain an advantage.

“So, what’s the plan? We going to muck things up for them before we leave?” the Healer asked.

“Oh yeah,” Bad Wolf agreed smiling. “Ianto found out a collector bought the box so we’ll be needing transport out of here. I hear there’s a real posh state of the art helicopter just outside of town that might do nicely.”

Donna smiled brightly. “I love it. They lock us up and we leave ‘em stranded. Serves ‘em right!”

“I can’t wait to see their gob smacked faces as we leave in their transport,” Pond exclaimed, loving the irony of how they had turned the Gallifreyans’ plan on its ear.

The group quickly made their way to the helicopter, relieving the Gallifreyans’ pilots and escorting them to new “accommodations.” Of course, the Powells did not leave immediately as they wanted the Gallifreyans to watch. As they sat in their new transport, they reviewed the information Ianto had procured and made further travel arrangements. They would soon be heading to a secret bunker in Utah where a wealthy collector of unusual items by the name of Henry Van Statten had moved the box.

Ianto assisted them and arranged for a meal to be delivered and kept tabs on the location of the Gallifreyans. The ladies took great pleasure in how long it took them to uncover the information that Ianto had obtained in under an hour.

Eventually, Ianto rang up Bad Wolf and suavely informed her, “The unethical lying sods had arrived.”

“Thanks, Ianto! I’ll have the Healer and Pond start to check us off for lift off.,” Bad Wolf replied and turned to her team with a giggle. The Healer, who was an expert pilot of several different aircraft types, climbed into the pilot seat and began her pre-flight checklist, while keeping an eye out for the Gallifreyans. Pond climbed up front to co-pilot with her.

Soon, Ianto was standing outside the door. Bad Wolf and Donna peeked out as well as they saw a cab pull up and the Gallifreyans climb out. The Doctor was the first to notice. Bad Wolf swore she saw him let loose a string of curse words and couldn’t help the grin that burst forth. Soon the Doctor was joined by his stunned team. The Captain’s face was a mixture of disbelief and pain as he watched Ianto nod at them and climb into the helicopter. Bad Wolf blew them a kiss while Donna and Pond, who had run back from the cockpit, made obscene hand gestures and shouted out. “Cheaters never win!”

Just as the Gallifreyans shook themselves out of their shock and were about to run up to their knicked helicopter, the door snapped shut and the Healer began take off. As they watched their transport disappear into the sky, the Doctor turned to the Captain and the Tin Dog. He was not amused. “Thank you, Ricky!” he snipped, using his “I’m annoyed at you” nickname for the Tin Dog. The Tin Dog had the good sense to look chastised.

Roranicus with arms crossed glared at them as well. “And which of you geniuses is gonna call the Director and explain this one?” he asked, with attitude.

The Doctor turned away watching the small dot of the helicopter disappear, his hands shoved into the pockets of his coat. His only solace was that he knew both teams were heading to the same location and he would have an opportunity to try and make things right with Bad Wolf. He smiled when he thought about the cheeky grin and the kiss she blew at him. It may have been partly intended to being annoying but part of him couldn’t help but hope it meant more.

 

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to my Whovian sistahs timelord1 , who_in_whoville and aintafraidanoghosts who took a quick peek at this plot. This chapter was broken into Chapters 4 and 5 due to the writers inability to write it in less than 8,000 words! Sometimes it just gets away from me. So, in these chapters - The Powells have left Norway in the Gallifreyans' helicopter after the Gallifreyans' little prank to have the ladies imprisoned. Now they are visiting a certain collector of unusual items, someone by the name of Van Statten...
> 
> * * *

The Powell corporate jet arrived at Henry Van Statten’s personal airfield in the middle of an arid part of Utah just outside of Salt Lake City. The agents, dressed in designer, custom fitted suits, walked off the plane with panache carrying briefcases and looking the part of wealthy corporate executives. They were greeted by Henry Van Statten’s executive assistant, Diana Goddard, and escorted inside his private complex a half a mile below the surface of the desert.

Henry Van Statten’s private office was a large, posh room decorated in earth tones and with some unusual artwork on the walls and sitting on special pedestals throughout the room. The Healer carefully scanned the room and noted that many of these artifacts would have been at home in Torchwood’s archives or UNIT’s preternatural items storage facility. This confirmed all the intel that Donna had gathered on Van Statten. He was on a watch list of Interpol, UNIT, Torchwood and several other international secret service type organizations. Worse than his obvious desire for black market dealings and trade in illegal products, was a loose affiliation with Archangel. That made him even more dangerous.

Soon, Mr. Van Statten, surrounded by armed guards and assistants entered the room. He was a middle aged man with black hair, a well groomed mustache, a receding hair line and light colored eyes. He had the air of a man of wealth and power used to getting his own way. He looked the Powell agents up and down lingering on their figures before he sat at his desk. Bad Wolf knew immediately how to approach him.

Diana stepped forward. “Mr. Van Statten, these are the representatives of the Mr. Copper Foundation. Ms. White, Ms. Scarlet, Ms. Pestcock and Dr. Plum.”

“That’s Ms. Peacock,” Donna corrected, annoyed at Van Statten’s assistant who merely raised her eyebrows at her.

Bad Wolf Stepped forward to intervene. “Mr. Van Statten, thanks for seein’ us. Our client is real anxious to add something new and exciting to their collection and we know that you have some real impressive items here,” she said flirtatiously.

Van Statten smirked and sat back as he examined Bad Wolf and Pond. “Well Ms. White, I am a man of exquisite taste and I do enjoy…unique and exotic things. I’m sure I have something you want,” he said cockily and staring at Bad Wolf’s cleavage.

Bad Wolf smiled her trademark smile showing just the tip of her tongue. “I’ll bet you do,” she replied throatily, playing up to his ego.

“Maybe you’d like to show us a bit of how you operate,” Pond suggested with a hot look.

“Of course, Ms. Scarlet,” he said smoothly and snapped his fingers and a young dark haired man, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt who couldn’t have been more than eighteen stepped forward. “This is Adam, I swiped him away from one of your country’s notorious governmental agencies. He’s smart and mine now. He has an instinct for interesting items.” Van Statten held out his hand and Adam handed him a metallic pen like item. Van Statten aimed it at a water glass causing the glass to shatter. “Sonic pen. It’ll be all the rage in a few years when I incorporate it into the latest mobile phone. You see ladies, I don’t just collect unique items. I’m a man of vision. Why keep all this to myself when I can share it with the world and if I turn a little profit on it, all the better.”

Pond smiled. “We’d love a tour of you impressive… collection,” she said slowly enunciating impressive and licking her lips slightly. Van Statten was looking very pleased. The Healer and Donna stood in back rolling their eyes, not enjoying how Van Statten was eyeing their friends and finding the whole flirting strategy distasteful.

“We’d like to confirm your methods to make sure our client would be gettin’ authentic goods,” Donna suggested, all business like. “Maybe Adam here could show Ms. Scarlet his process.”

The young man in question’s eyes widened and then became glued to Pond.

Van Statten looked slightly annoyed but Bad Wolf wasn’t going to lose this opportunity.  
“Mr. Van Statten, our client is willin’ to make a generous offer for the right item or items. Maybe even trade…I dunno, favors?” she asked with an arched brow.

Van Statten leaned forward and slowly smiled at her. “I like you Ms. White. You’re a player and clever.” He looked over at Adam and then at Pond. “Why not. Adam, take Ms. Scarlet around and show her we’re not just amateurs and we have quality control.” He turned back to Bad Wolf. “I’m all about quality control. As a matter of fact, I’d be delighted to show you some of my more innovative techniques for collecting.”

Rose smiled seductively at him. “Oh, I don’t doubt you have brilliant techniques, Mr. Van Statten.”

“Call me, Henry,” he said, still staring at her cleavage.

Donna grimaced at Van Statten’s obvious lecherous behavior and looked at the Healer who was looking at the results of her scans of the building. Pond and Adam quietly left leaving Diana Goddard staring icily at Van Statten.

“Maybe I could give you my personal tour,” Van Statten offered, his eyes glued to Bad Wolf and ignoring everyone else in the room. He stood up and held out his arm. Bad Wolf sidled up to him and they walked out the door followed by a stoic Diana, Donna and the Healer. Van Statten began bragging to Bad Wolf about his wealth and how he practically owned the internet and about owning the Forest of Cheem which was known for some of the oldest and most unique trees in the world. Rose rolled her eyes but played along with him. This tour into the inner workings of his facility just brought her one step closer to finding the Blue Box

Van Statten went into great detail about certain items in his collection but it became apparent to Bad Wolf and her team that he was not showing them everything. Just as she was about to try persuade him to give them a more in depth tour, Diana spoke quietly into her ear piece and then cleared her throat.

“Mr. Van Statten?” she asked.

“What?” he snapped as his hand dipped lower and patted Bad Wolf’s arse. Donna’s eyes narrowed as if she was ready to go charging in to give him a piece of her mind. The Healer, meanwhile, was surreptitiously scanning everything during their tour looking for any trace of the Blue Box. Part of the information Ianto had obtained in Norway had indicated the Blue Box emitted an unusual hum which should be detectable.

“It appears there are some rather insistent visitors. They say they have a Hyperspectral Scanner and are here to make a trade with you.”

Van Statten’s eyes lit up. “Is that so? Bring them in, using all security precautions of course.” He turned to Bad Wolf who was suspicious of who these visitors were. “Ms. White, it appears you have an opportunity to witness first hand the genius behind my abilities,” he said egotistically and then led everyone into a conference room. Donna, the Healer and Bad Wolf all stood to the side as several armed guards led in the Gallifreyans.”

“I knew it,” Donna griped under her breath and crossed her arms, staring daggers at the swaggering Gallifreyans.

The Doctor unperturbed by the armed guards and ignoring the Powell agents, waltzed in and up to Van Statten who stood on the opposite side of the conference room table. Several guns were pointed at the Doctor. “Mr. Van Statten! At last we meet. I’ve heard so much about you,” the Doctor greeted enthusiastically.

“And you are?” Van Statten demanded.

“Oh, I’m the Doctor and I think I may have something you want.”

“And what makes you think you can just walk into my facility like this interrupting my meeting with the lovely Ms. White and her associates?” Van Statten asked, turning to Bad Wolf with another lascivious look.

The Doctor did his best to ignore the fact that the Powells had beat him here and that he didn’t like how Van Statten looked at Bad Wolf. “I know that you’re always on the lookout for innovative technology and I think you may have something I want. You’re a man who doesn’t walk away from a lucrative transaction so it doesn’t really matter what you were doing. All that matters is what you’re going to do now.”

Van Statten rubbed his face and stared hard at the Doctor. “All right. I’ll give you two minutes. Show me this Hyperspectral Scanner.”

The Tin Dog walked up and plopped a black case on the table which he opened up to reveal black and silver components that when assembled looked like a jet pack with hand bars on each side. Van Statten’s eyes lit up.

“And this is authentic and functional?” he asked.

The Tin Dog smiled cockily. “Are you kiddin‘ me? This baby came direct from Torchwood archives. Just don’t ask how. It can scan a building and show you every last detail down to the hair on someone‘s head.”

The Healer was not going to stand there and allow the Gallifreyans to swan in and ruin this mission. She confidently walked up and pulled a credit card sized silver device out which she laid on the table. “This does the same thing as their scanner only it also has a dampening field to protect it from outside tampering,” she said and looked condescendingly at the Tin Dog’s scanner. “Size isn’t everything. It’s how you use your tech that counts,” she informed him with a slight smirk and challenging look to her eyes.

The Tin Dog’s eyes widened and then he smiled at her. He did enjoy sparring with the Healer. “Yeah, well sometimes it’s about power too. You know, having that extra somethin’ to make it last a long time,” he said, staring at the Healer with a naughty glint in his eyes.

Just as the Healer was preparing a snappy retort, Donna interrupted. “It’s getting a bit stuffy in here don’t ya think? Maybe we should just get to the point of all this.”

“Yeah, let’s,” the Captain agreed and looked at Van Statten. “We’re willing to pay or trade handsomely for an item you may have procured. It’s called the Blue Box.”

Not to be outdone, Donna stepped up and glared at the Captain. “Oh yeah, well our client wants the Blue Box as well and we’ve been authorized to make a generous offer for it. Very generous,” she asserted and smiled at the Captain with a “take that” smile.

Rory stood off to the side watching everyone in the room. He was a little worried Pond wasn’t there and not just because he wanted to see her. She was a very talented grifter and thief. He could only imagine what she was up to while they bickered over price.

Van Statten was pleased to have both groups bidding against one another and once enough tech and cash was on the table, he would make a final decision. He enjoyed it when he had the upper hand.

Bad Wolf walked up. “Mr. Van Statten, Henry, you haven’t confirmed whether or not you have this Blue Box. Our client is willin’ to be generous but if you don’t have it then it’s sort of a moot point.”

The Doctor looked over at her dressed in the navy suit with a skirt that was just a bit higher than would be accepted in the corporate world, hair arranged in a chignon and looking very polished. He could see that she had already made an impact on Van Statten and was making the Gallifreyan’s job more difficult not to mention, how Van Statten treated her annoyed him. It was demeaning and disgusting how Van Statten looked at her. He also still wanted to make things right with Bad Wolf after the incident in Norway. Nothing was worse than Bad Wolf out to prove a point and he definitely felt that despite the knicking of his helicopter, she was not done proving a point to the Gallifreyans.

Before anyone could say anything further, Pond burst into the room with Adam. “We’ve got trouble!” she announced.

Bad Wolf was immediately on alert. “What is it?” she demanded.

“They’ve got a Dalek down there!”

“What!” the Doctor shouted and stood next to Bad Wolf, turning his glare on Van Statten.

“You’re the one that activated it!” Adam accused, staring at Pond.

“Well you’re the one that got all touchy feely with me and I bumped it. How was I to know it would activate. And why would you have one of those killing machines just sitting around anyway!”

“Me? This isn’t my fault!” he shouted back and then turned to Van Statten who looked furious. “Mr. Van Statten, I swear to you, it wasn’t like that.”

“I thought you said it was broken, inactive, kaput!” Van Statten shouted back and then hit a button on the table. “Security! Alpha Orange Nine! This facility is on lockdown. Secure the device and report back.” He turned to Bad Wolf. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ve got layers of security on this place, only the best!”

Bad Wolf was seriously ticked. Daleks were killing machines plain and simple. They were automated devices developed by the military whose only purpose was to kill every living thing. They had no other purpose and were banned just about everywhere on Earth. “You brought one of those murderous machines here! Are you mad? Do you know what that thing will do if it gets out?” she demanded.

“Relax! Everything’s fine. I told you, I have the best security system in the world. Nothing gets in or out of here without my say so.”

The Doctor had a murderous look in his eyes. “So it’s ego then. You brought the most deadly thing on the planet here for what reason? Just so you could say you have it?”

Van Statten smirked. “It’s unique and advanced technology. I’ll rip it apart, study it and make something from it. It’s what I do Doctor and I do it better than anyone,” he bragged and winked at Bad Wolf who stood by seething.

The Doctor was beginning to stalk forward when the lights flickered. The Tin Dog shouted out, “It’s draining the power.”

Roranicus walked over to stand protectively next to Pond and glared at Adam. The Healer whipped out her iphone and began madly punching at it. “It’s tapped into the internet and the power grid. That thing just uploaded itself with massive information and is drawing power all the way from Salt Lake City!”

Tin Dog walked over next to Martha and compared readings from his own equipment with hers. “She’s right. This is bad. Daleks were designed with a new generation of power source. It’s like the most powerful battery in the world and no one knows how much power it can hold. It’s the bloomin’ energizer bunny of death.”

The Healer looked up at him with raised eyebrows and a slight smile “Energizer bunny of death? Seriously?” The Tin Dog winked at her.

The Doctor had heard enough. “Van Statten, I don’t think you understand how bad this is and when I say bad I mean massively bad like the Battle of Elysium bad.”

“I told you I only have the best,” Van Statten said, annoyed that anyone would question him. “This facility is filled with one of kind objects that are so intricate and unique, you could barely understand them. My security force is highly trained with the most advanced weaponry available.”

“Oh, I understand better than you think. I’ve met your kind before. You think your all powerful like a god. Let me tell you, I’ve met fake gods and bad gods and demi gods and would-be gods like you before and you know what? They all burned and faded away, their lives meaningless. Don’t you think for even a second that you are invincible. No one is completely invincible.”

“Not even a Dalek?” Van Statten shot back.

“Everything has a weakness,” the Doctor responded in a hard voice and glanced at Bad Wolf before turning back to Van Statten.

“That’s enough!” Bad Wolf shouted. “Both of you put your egos in your pants and zip it!” Both the Doctor and Van Statten stared at her shocked.

Diana’s face suddenly paled. “It’s broken through level forty. Sir, everyone’s dead,” she said softly. Van Statten cursed.

“This is just bloody great. The power’s out and we’re stuck in an underground bunker with the most dangerous tech ever invented!” the Tin Dog moaned.

“There’s got to be something we can do,” the Healer insisted and began pacing deep in thought.

“What other stuff you got down here?” the Captain asked Van Statten. “If you’ve got a Dalek, you must have other weapons.”

“Of course I do! It’s all down on level forty.”

“All of it?” Roranicus asked. “What about the stuff that hasn’t been processed yet. Certainly you have an acquisitions department. I mean, when you receive items in, what happens to it?”

Pond’s eyes lit up. “Roranicus, you’re a genius!” she said and pulled him for a quick kiss which left him grinning. “Adam, your office is only three levels beneath here isn’t it?” Pond asked.

“Well, yeah but that’s closer to the Dalek. We need to focus on getting out of here!” he said desperately.

“Oh really? What’s that gonna matter if the bloody Dalek get’s out, dumbo,” Donna retorted.

“Donna’s right. We need to focus on stopping’ it. It can’t be allowed to escape,” Bad Wolf said.

“Agreed,” the Doctor said, nodding at Bad Wolf. “No time to argue, let’s get to the stairs.”

“Wait a minute, this is my facility and I decide what actions to take!” Van Statten insisted.

“Oh really, Mr. Ego as big as the state of Utah Van Statten,” Donna snarked. “So go on then. How you gonna stop the most dangerous killer on the planet?” she asked, arms crossed and the Donna “don’t mess with me” look on her face.

“You’re not dealing with an amateur here, sweetheart. I’ve got contingencies. He pulled out his mobile and began punching in some codes. “I’ve sealed off the lower levels and initiated a Code Yellow. I have over one hundred Arcadian Drones down there with polycarbide armor. They’ll use a precise tactical strike and initiate a proton burst which will disarm it,” he said smugly.

“That won’t work,” the Captain asserted, pacing back and forth worried about how they would defeat a Dalek with little resources and trapped a half mile beneath the surface. “I don’t think you get it, Van Statten. It was designed to be the perfect soldier.”

“The Captain’s right,” Roranicus added. “Tin Dog and I were on an assignment in the Kaled Wastelands after a Dalek attack. They tried everything. It literally took a dive bombing Byzantium class fighter armed to the hilt with smart bombs to stop it and in the end, all it did was delay it.”

The Tin Dog looked up with a slightly haunted look to his eyes. “Roranicus ain’t jokin. This thing, it’s almost indestructible. It’s built from this metal hybrid, dalekanium. Nothin’ can cut through that ‘cept for a modulated dalekanium laser cannon and I only know of one of those and it burned up stoppin’ one of these things.”

“That laser cannon used a white point star diamond, right?” Pond asked.

Roranicus looked at her. “How’d you know that? I mean, that information was classified.”

The Captain perked up. “Cause she’s just that good. Aren’t you, Pond? Let me guess, you had a date with a certain research scientist by the name of Lazarus,”

“Oi, watch it Captain!” Donna chastised. “Not all of us have to shag our way to information.”

“Enough blogging!” the Doctor said, aggravated with both teams now. “We have to get going before that thing is on us. We move now.”

“Just who do you think you all are?” Van Statten demanded angrily.

“We’re the people that are going to save your life,” Bad Wolf announced and without further comment she walked out of the room side by side with the Doctor, followed by the rest of her team. When Van Statten didn’t move, Donna waltzed over and grabbed him by the arm. “Oh no you don’t, sunshine! You created this mess and you’re gonna help fix it!” Donna began pulling him from the room, pausing at the door to look back at Diana and Adam. “Well, don’t just stand there! Come on!” she ordered.

Diana straightened herself up throwing her shoulders back and followed turning once to look at the hesitant Adam. “You heard the lady. March!”

As they walked down the hall, the Doctor leaned over and whispered into Bad Wolf’s ear. “She really is the ginger general isn’t she?”

Bad Wolf grinned at him. “You have no idea.”

They quickly made there down to Adam’s office which was stacked with various pieces of equipment and bric-a-brac. The Tin Dog, the Healer and the Captain went straight to work sorting. Roranicus worked with Diana and Pond to review footage of what the Dalek was doing. Van Statten stayed in constant communication with his security force and could be heard shouting orders. Donna kept a close eye on him. Bad Wolf and The Doctor hovered around Adam’s monitor looking through records and information about the facility to formulate a plan while Adam hovered in a corner looking like he was about to collapse.

“Aha!” the Doctor called out. Bad Wolf leaned over and looked at the screen which the Doctor tapped with his sonic. “Right there. We need to get down to level twenty-three. There are components there for a laser cannon.”

Everyone in the room looked at him. “You’re gonna build a laser cannon in time to shoot this thing?” the Captain asked in disbelief.

“What about the white point star diamond? Those things are rare and I doubt genius here has one,” Donna commented.

“Watch it Pisscock or whoever the hell you are?” Van Statten shot back.

“Oi! That’s it! I’ve had it with you!” As she was storming over to let Van Statten have it, Pond ran over to stop her. “It’s Peacock! Get it Pea -Cock ! I’m sure an egotistical lump like you can get that!” she shouted as Pond held her back.

The Captain, Tin Dog and the Healer all stood back grinning and enjoying the show. Roranicus walked over to the Doctor and Bad Wolf. “Um, do you want to you know do something about this,” he asked as Van Statten backed up and looked over at Diana.

“Goddard, eject this harpy!” he ordered.

Diana just cocked an eyebrow at him. “Sorry sir, we’re on lock down.”

The group could hear Donna mutter, “Harpy! I’ll show him a harpy!”

Van Statten’s mobile rang. “What!” he shouted. Again, his face fell and he stared at his phone. “It destroyed all the drones and the tactical team with them.”

“I’m sorry,” Bad Wolf said compassionately.

“What an amazing piece of technology,” he breathed in wonder, completely ignoring her empathetic response and seemingly oblivious to the fact that people died. “Pity, I’m going to have to risk damaging it.”

“Damage it!” Roranicus shouted in outrage. “People are dying! It needs to destroyed!”

“See, told you on the way here he wasn’t playin’ with a full deck,” Donna snipped looking at Bad Wolf.

The Doctor stood up enraged at Van Statten’s complete lack of concern for human life and obsession with possessing such a dangerous weapon. He stalked up to Van Statten who stumbled backwards until he hit a wall. Bad Wolf watched as the Doctor laid into him about greed and corruption. She had heard about the Oncoming Storm but had never witnessed it until now. It gave her goose bumps watching the waves of anger and disgust for Van Statten roll off of him and Van Statten felt it too by the way his eyes were bugling in fear.

“Doctor,” Bad Wolf softly called out. The Doctor quieted and turned to her. “We need to stop this thing. Henry over there can wait.”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed. “Henry is it?” he spit out in disgust. Hearing her call him by his first name so intimately, hit a sore spot inside of the Doctor. She was better than this and yet, she was playing up to this selfish, evil criminal.

“Yeah, now let’s focus and get a plan goin’ before this thing gets out,” Bad Wolf snapped back, not liking the Doctor’s tone of voice with her. The rest of the room had gone silent watching the Doctor lay into Van Statten and then turn his piercing gaze at Bad Wolf.

“Fine,” he answered and aimed his sonic screwdriver at the computer. “I’m heading to Level Twenty Three. Captain, you and Tin Dog see if you can whip up something to slow it down. Healer can see to the injured while Pond and Roranicus can start working on evacuating people to the top level. Donna, you keep an eye on this lot.” the Doctor said indicating Van Statten, Adam and Diana.

Everyone just stared at him. “What?” he snapped.

“I don’t take orders from a skinny strip of nothin’ like you,” Donna said indignantly.

“Bad Wolf?” the Healer asked, ignoring the Doctor who slowly turned to Bad Wolf.

“Yes BW, do tell us what your plans are? Going to take Henry here to tea?” he snipped sarcastically, still in a foul mood. The Captain, who knew the Doctor well, raised his eyebrows in surprise. He wasn’t used to the Doctor losing his cool like this. Slowly, a smile emerged as he realized how far Bad Wolf and gotten under the Doctor’s skin. He always knew it would happen one day. He just never thought he’d be around to witness it.

To say that Bad Wolf was angry at the Doctor’s rude and arrogant display, would be an understatement. She turned to the Healer. “See if you can help out with the injured and find out if they can give you any more information about the Dalek. Pond, go ahead with Roranicus and keep your eyes open for any other tech that’s not accounted for that might help. Donna, work on getting communications open and let the Matriarch know the situation so she can handle things with UNIT so they can be prepared for the worst. I’ll go with the Doctor and make sure he doesn’t muck up anythin’ since he’s got his pants all in a knot.” The Doctor glared at her. 

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter continues from Chapter 4 since it was soooo long. Enjoy!
> 
> * * *

The Doctor and Bad Wolf left and everyone went off to their various assignments. As they quickly made their way down the stairwell, the Doctor decided he couldn’t leave well enough alone. “Henry? Really, BW. I’m disappointed. I’d expect Pond to play the flirt card but you’re better than that.”

Bad Wolf came an abrupt stop and he nearly toppled into her. “Let’s get one thing straight. You don’t have a say in how I do my job. And, leave Pond out of this. She’s a top notch agent and I’m not gonna listen to you insult her. Who are you to judge anyway? It‘s not like you haven‘t manipulated people to get what you want.”

“Not like that I haven’t! And I would never compromise my personal ethics just to get information from a unscrupulous pirate like Van Statten.”

“Really. Seems like you didn’t hesitate to compromise those lofty ethics to lie and forge records to convince the authorities in Norway to lock up me and my team,” she shot back and continued racing down the stairs.

The Doctor paused and then raced after her. “Wait a minute. BW, that wasn’t me. As a matter of fact, I was livid that the Captain and Tin Dog did such a thing. I would never condone that sort of behavior against a fellow agent, even a competitor. Especially, one I respect.”

Bad Wolf stopped and looked at him. “So, you’re tellin’ me you didn’t know ‘bout it until we were locked up then? That those boys did it on their own?”

“Locking you up just to win a case is not my style. Besides, I prefer to win with my superior intellect,” he said sniffing.

Bad Wolf smiled, pleased that it wasn’t him that did something so underhanded. A little piece inside of her was a bit giddy even. That’s when she realized she had come to do more than respect the Doctor. It’s also when she realized how dangerous that could be. “Thanks for tellin’ me, Doctor. Now, as for the rest of your team….”

“Ah yes. Well…” he said, tugging at his ear as they continued down the stairs. “I think they should probably apologize.”

“Yeah, they should ‘cos if they don’t, I can’t guarantee what Healer, Donna and Pond will do. The Matriarch wasn’t too happy either.”

“Neither was the Director. He may have put them on double secret probation. And, then there was Sarah Jane. One never wants to make her unhappy.”

“Sounds like the Matriarch,” Bad Wolf said, grinning her trademark grin which always seemed to light the dark places inside of him that he kept closed off from everyone else.

“Oh, but we are in trouble aren’t we?” he said grinning at her.

“Aren’t we always?” she replied cheekily.

It wasn’t long before they reached Level Twenty Three and raced into a storage area and began ripping things off of shelves and building the laser cannon. Bad Wolf was amazed at how fast the Doctor worked and may have stumbled a bit when he put on his glasses. There was just something about the Doctor wearing those glasses. She smiled while working and kept shooting glances at him and just about melted when he stuck his tongue out a bit while he was concentrating on some delicate work. Her musing was interrupted when her phone beeped. It was the Healer.

“What is it?” Bad Wolf asked tersely.

“It’s heading for your floor. The Captain and Tin Dog can’t delay it anymore. You have to get out of there now!”

She looked over at the Doctor and he stared into her eyes. The lights went out and emergency systems kicked in. “I’ll try and draw it off while you work,” she said.

“No, wait! I have a better idea,” he said hurriedly, not wanting to let Bad Wolf out of his sight much less near the killer machine. He reached back and slapped a battery pack onto a small robotic drone. He aimed his sonic screwdriver at it and it lit up. He reached for a remote control and tossed to Bad Wolf. “Here, use this. See if you can distract it. I don’t need much more time.”

Bad Wolf nodded and looked at the canon. “You sure ‘bout that thing?”

“Uh no, but it’s all we’ve got. If we can hit it at the weakest structural point, we might have a chance.”

Bad Wolf nodded and before she could leave he ran up to her. “Um, can I have that necklace you’re wearing?” he asked eyeing the diamond pendent around her neck.

She smiled at him. “Yeah, but it’s not a white point star diamond. It’s just some simulated gem that our lab created.”

The Doctor scanned it with his sonic and looked up and grinned at her. “Oh, I have got to meet the people in this lab ‘cos they are brilliant!” he said exuberantly.

“I’ll have to tell Malcolm that. I’m sure he’d be thrilled. He’s a bit in awe of you lot. Um, I better go. Good Luck,” she said softly. Before she could leave, he reached for her hand and yanked her back to him and slowly with purpose gave her the snog of her life.

When he let her go, she stared into those deep brown eyes of his and thought she could see all of time and space. “What?” she gasped softly.

“For luck,” he said in a rough voice, then grinned and winked as he dashed off to the laser.

grinned brightly and raced out of the room. “If that was for luck, gotta wonder what it’s like when he’s serious,” she muttered to herself.

While she raced off, he continued working on the laser. Of course, he may have been a little distracted thinking about her soft kissable lips, how she felt in his arms and how much he’d like to spend a bit more time enjoying her soft body pressed against his. All of these thoughts made him work faster, determined to keep her safe.

**************

Bad Wolf was on her mobile with the Healer and the Captain. They directed to her to the Dalek, warning her not to get too close. The Dalek was armed with a laser and was a deadly shot. Soon she was setting up the drone and flying it down the corridor.

“You all right there, Bad Wolf?” the Captain asked over her mobile.

“Are you kiddin? I’m about to play tag with a Dalek. Never been better,” she said, focused on controlling the drone.

“You and the Doc okay?” the Captain asked, trying to settle her nerves and find out how the Doctor was doing.

Bad Wolf linked the building security systems and surveillance cameras into her phone so she could guide the drone.

“Yeah, sure. Any reason we wouldn’t?” she asked absently as she listened to the Dalek’s announcements echoing down the corridor. It spoke in a harsh computerized voice and she could hear it saying, “Scanning, Scanning. Unauthorized drone detected.”

The Captain could also hear it over her mobile. He didn’t want her to face this thing alone so he kept making small talk. “Well, things got a little intense up here. The Doc likes you and the way Van Statten treated you, rubbed him the wrong way.”

“Is that all?” she said and flinched as she watched the Dalek aim it’s laser at the drone. She veered the drone off and shot the Dalek with cleaning foam. This drone was typically used for window washing so all it carried was a thick cleaning foam that dissolved dirt. It wouldn’t hurt the Dalek but she hoped it would annoy it enough to pursue the drone.

“BW, you okay?” Jack said, worry in his voice.

“Still here,” she whispered. The Dalek began speaking “Unauthorized Drone Dispersing viscuous cleaning solvent. Vision impaired, vision impaired! Activating drone destruction sequence.”

“It’s going for the drone,” she whispered.

“Who knew a little window cleaner would tick off a Dalek. Good shooting hitting the eyestalk by the way. The Doctor would like that.”

“Yeah, bet he would. Unlike that stunt you pulled in Norway. Don’t think we’ve forgotten that, Captain.”

Bad Wolf watched the Dalek clean it’s eyestalk using some sort of charge and then begin aiming at the drone.

“Come on, Bad Wolf. You’re not gonna hold a grudge over a little prank like that are you?” the Captain said lightly.

Bad Wolf zig zagged the drone around but watched as the Dalek neatly sliced it in half.

“Shit!” she whispered and began moving down the corridor back to the Doctor.

“Bad Wolf, still with me?”

“Yep. Just takin’ a quick jog is all. Apparently, Daleks don’t like cleaning drones.”

“Get the Doc and get outta there. We’ll find another way.”

Bad Wolf saw the Doctor ahead wheeling a very large cobbled together silver box with a cylinder sticking out of it. “Sorry, Captain. Not gonna happen. We’ stoppin’ this thing now.”

“Don’t do this. We can find another way. Donna’s got UNIT in route,” Jack said, tension in his voice.

The Healer popped on the line. “The Captain’s right. UNIT’s bringing in some sort of mini nuclear device. They’ll seal it up and explode the facility.”

By this time, Bad Wolf reached the Doctor who stared at her mobile in horror. “No, don’t let them do that,” he practically whined. “It’ll never work and as much as I know they want to try out one of their new horrific and ultimately destructive weapons, I’ve got this sorted. Now, if you and the Captain will excuse us, BW and I have a date with a Dalek.” With that he rang off and winked at Bad Wolf. “Like that, date with a Dalek. Has a nice ring to it. It’d make a great novel. Don’t ya think?”

Bad Wolf grinned and heard the Dalek heading toward them. She and the Doctor squatted down behind his home made cannon. eased off her stilettos for easier running as she had a good feeling running was going to be necessary.

The Dalek rounded a corner. It was an evil looking thing, sort of a metallic pepper pot with matte tarnished gold colored and with brighter gold roundels over the lower half. The upper half was domed with an eyestalk protruding and glowing blue. There were also various evil looking weapons sticking out. It’s voice rang out, “Scanning, scanning. Life forms detected. Ex-term-inate. Ex-term-inate!”

Bad Wolf had chills running up her arms and without thinking reached for the Doctor’s hand. He squeezed her hand in support and they looked at each other, gazing intently into the other’s eyes. The Doctor nodded and flipped a few switches turning the canon on. The Dalek was in range now. He aimed his sonic to fire the cannon and…. nothing happened.

“Doctor!” Bad Wolf called out.

“Huh. Will you look at that. Well, that’s not good. Um, give me just a tick,” the Doctor said, focused on tinkering with the cannon.

Bad Wolf rolled her eyes. “Right. Okay time for plan B.”

The Doctor paused and looked at her. “Plan B? What Plan B? We haven’t got a Plan B. Welll, unless you count running as Plan B which I often do.”

Bad Wolf gripped her stilettos which were not your standard stilettos. Thanks to the Matriarch working with their tech department, these shoes were also a weapon with spiky heels made of a newly developed carbonized metal. She just hoped they would work on Daleks. She stood up and yelled. “Take that you evil pepper pot!” and hurled her shoe at the Dalek where it embedded itself in the Dalek’s dome. This seemed to annoy the Dalek.

“What!” the Doctor called out. “Oh BW, now you’ve just pissed it off! Nice shoes by the way.”

“Will you get that bloody cannon fixed!” she yelled back as she threw her next shoe, the heel of which embedded in the front of the eyestalk.

“Good aim!” the Doctor called out as he soniced a few more bits on the cannon. The Dalek fired it’s laser but with it’s eyestalk vision blocked, it missed them. It continued firing shouting in it’s Dalek voice, “Vision impaired, vision impaired, ex-term-inate, ex-term-inate!”

“Got it!” the Doctor shouted out and Bad Wolf ducked down behind him and the laser. She watched as sparks flew out of the canon and it started to glow blue. The Doctor aimed it at the blinded Dalek and fired. The Dalek seemed to vibrate and glow blue and stop. The laser sparked and smoke billowed out before it died. Bad Wolf and the Doctor crawled on their hands and peeked around the burning canon to see the Dalek. It was not moving and smoking but still appeared intact except for the charred remains of Bad Wolf’s stilettos still sticking out of it.

Slowly, they stood up, coughing from the smoke. Donna, the Captain, Tin Dog and the Healer ran up behind them.

“What happened?” the Healer demanded, staring wide eyed at the charred Dalek.

“No way!” Tin Dog exclaimed in a hushed voice and then looked in awe at the destroyed laser.

The Captain was still leery and was toting a sonic pulse rifle. “Is it destroyed?” he asked, staring at the Dalek with cold eyes.

Donna came up by Bad Wolf. “You all right?” she asked.

Bad Wolf smiled and nodded her head. “Yeah.”

Donna cocked her head as she looked at the Dalek. “Are those…your shoes stuck in it?” she asked quizzically.

Bad Wolf grinned broadly “Yep!”

The Captain smirked. “That’s a new one. Remind me not to tick you off, BW.”

“Too late,” Donna snarked, glaring at him.

“Oh, come on! It was just a little prank and it’s not like it kept you ladies down for long. Besides, it would seem you got a helicopter out of the deal. That’s more than fair.”

Donna crossed her arms and cocked a hip out. “You told them we were thieves and wanted by Interpol not to mention other insulting things. I think we’ll say when we’re even.”

The Healer smirked at this, nodded her head and high fived Donna.

Suddenly, the Dalek started to move. “Uh guys, I don’t think that things dead yet,” the Tin Dog said nervously.

The Doctor, who had been fussing with his laser cannon popped his head up. “What?”

Bad Wolf backed up a step. The Healer gripped her arm. “The metal in those stilettos is Malcolm’s new experiment, right?” she asked.

Bad Wolf nodded her head. “Yeah, why?”

“It’s a bit unstable when exposed to certain energies,” the healer said, her eyes not leaving the Dalek.

“Like a quasi dalekaneium beam from a cobbled together laser cannon?” the Doctor asked, quickly backing away from the cannon and Dalek.

“Yeah, that might sort of do it,” the Healer acknowledged nervously.

“Ah,” he said. “Well then, I think it’s time to….Run!”

The group raced up the stairs as they heard the Dalek scream “Power overload imminent!” and a searing white light glowed from where they had come from and then an explosion rocked the entire underground bunker. The walls started to crumble and fall and they continued running up the stairs until they reached Pond and Roranicus on an upper level closer to the surface.

The group collapsed breathing hard and then began to laugh. Roranicus looked concerned. “Are you all right?” he asked looking them all over for injuries.

“Do we look all right?” Donna shouted. “We were almost killed by a Dalek and barbequed by geek boy over here who built some space age gizmo that blew up Bad Wolf’s shoes!” After she said that, her brow furrowed in thought.

Bad Wolf burst out laughing, soon followed by the Captain and everyone else. “The stilettos of doom!” the Captain called out laughing hysterically.

Roranicus didn’t looked convinced they were unharmed. “You’re sure you’re all right?”

The Doctor hopped up. “Oh we’re fine! Dalek done for, evil storage facility destroyed and egotistical corporate degenerate…” The Doctor looked around. “Where is pompous old Henry?”

Bad Wolf’s smile faded. “Donna?”

Donna sat back and smiled. “Oh, don’t worry about Henry boy. He’s been sorted.”

“Donna, what did you do?” Bad Wolf asked, almost scared to find out.

Donna, with a smug expression, looked over at Diana who had an equally smug expression. “Oh, we just gave him a taste of his own medicine.” She turned to Adam. “Go on. Tell ‘em, genius.”

Adam shoved his hands into his hoody and looked at Donna nervously. “Mr. Van Statten was working on modifying this virtual reality tech he acquired to make it marketable for the commercial market. We were working on a prototype for therapeutic use.”

The Doctor walked up toward Donna, Diana and Adam. “And, what did you do?” he asked a little nervously.

“I’ll tell you what we did!” Donna asserted. “We put the wanker in therapy!”

“Therapy? What kind of therapy?” the Healer asked intrigued.

Diana smiled. “This product was designed for teaching executives about sexual harassment. It’s a virtual reality program that inserts the participant in a variety of scenarios intended on teaching them inappropriate behavior.”

“And when the uh participant makes a bad choice?” Bad Wolf asked, a smile beginning to bloom on her face.

“Oh he gets a bit of shock and the program resets. Nothin’ that would do any permanent damage. Just enough to show ‘im what a wanker he is,” Donna confirmed.

“Okaaay,” the Doctor said, not objecting too much to this idea. “And, how many simulations has he been through exactly?” he asked, wondering how many shocks good old Henry could take.

Diana whipped out her ipad. “Oh he’s on number ten right now,” she said, smirking.

The men all winced. “Not surprised,” said the Healer.

Pond walked over to Bad Wolf. “UNIT’s here and evacuating everyone. We should probably get while the gettins good if you know what I mean.”

“Wait a minute. You’re just leaving without finding out about the Blue Box?” the Tin Dog asked suspiciously.

Pond and Bad Wolf stared at each other and then Bad Wolf looked at the Doctor. She sighed. “It’s all right, Pond. Tell ‘em.”

“What!” Donna shouted. “We’re not helpin’ them!”

“Yeah Donna, we are. The Doctor saved everyone and we’re not as petty as some people,” she said, staring pointedly at the Captain and Tin Dog who rolled their eyes.

Roranicus stepped forward. “Look, bad judgment was used by a couple of our team members but in all fairness, they were thinkin’ about a certain naked incident in Amsterdam.” Donna glared at him. Roranicus backed up a step. “Not that it justified what they did but, um can we just call a clean slate?” He then looked at Pond hopefully.

Pond smiled and looked at Donna with raised eyebrows. Bad Wolf crossed her arms and gave Donna a look. “Oh fine! We’re even. For now.”

“Good,” Bad Wolf said, nodding her head. “Go on, Pond.”

“While Adam was givin’ me the tour, he mentioned a special item that Van Statten wanted secreted away to a special storage facility in the Forest of Cheem. He said it was a weird blue box that was givin’ everyone the creeps.” She looked at Adam.

“Well it was!” Adam defended. “It put everyone on edge and messed with their head. It hurt to look at it like it didn’t want you to see it.”

“Did you see it? What did it look like?” the Healer demanded.

Adam looked uncomfortable. “It’s hard to say. Like I said, no one wanted to be near it much less look at it.”

“You must have seen something?” Roranicus pressed, not liking that this thing was having physical effects on people much less altering their perceptions or memories.

“Well, it’s like you said, a tall blue box with some kind of writing on it,” he said slowly squinting his eyes as he tried to remember. “Sorry, I just don’t know.”

“Sounds like we’ll be takin’ a trip to the Forest of Cheem,” Pond commented.

“Yeah, but I think there might be somethin’ else goin’ on here,” Bad Wolf mused and pulled out her mobile. “When I was down there with that Dalek and punchin’ into the security grid, I noticed a signal was bein’ directed at it and I don’t think it came from inside.”

“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked and walked over to peer at her mobile.

“She’s right,” the Tin Dog acknowledged. “I saw somethin’ weird too. Just didn’t know it was aimed at the Dalek. There was this subtle transmission ridin’ in on one Van Statten’s security feeds. At first, I thought it was an echo but the more I looked at it, I saw a definite pattern.”

The Doctor pushed his glasses up and looked at Bad Wolf. “You don’t activate a Dalek by just bumping into it. Someone set this up.”

“You sayin’ someone knew we’d be here lookin’ for that Blue Box and set a trap?” the Tin dog asked.

“Could be or could be someone just getting back at Van Statten,” the Doctor mused.

“I don’t like it. It’s too coincidental,” the Healer said, shaking her head.

Bad Wolf clicked her mobile off and looked at the Doctor who stared back at her in silence. “Doctor, you know who else is after this. Don’t you?”

“Yes,” he said softly and began pacing.

“It’s not Torchwood’s style,” the Captain remarked thoughtfully.

“No, that lot would do something with a bit more flash and I doubt they‘d let a Dalek go. They‘d want it for themselves,” Donna agreed.

“We all know who is capable of this,” Bad Wolf murmured.

Everyone looked at her in silent agreement. The Doctor paused and with a hard look in his eye almost spit out, “Archangel.”

They let out a breath. Diana and Adam just stared at them. Even they know about Archangel. Bad Wolf looked up. “Let’s get out of here and regroup.”

The Doctor stared for a long time before agreeing. They left Diana and Adam there to turn Van Statten over to UNIT and help them secure the bunker. Bad Wolf discretely handed Diana a Powell Agency card and nodded at her. Diana had a good head on her shoulders. The Matriarch might have a place for her.

The Two teams left in quiet agreement to meet back up in London and then on to the Forest of Cheem.  


* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to my Whovian sistahs timelord1 , who_in_whoville and aintafraidanoghosts for pushing me to update this. Please note the prior chapter had some problems with formatting (ie: missing words etc.) Thanks to Enchantment for catching the problems and letting me know :) This chapter: The two teams are back in London and decide to pool resources to find the Blue Box.
> 
> * * *

The Director paced back and forth while his team debriefed him on the Van Statten incident. Sarah Jane sat with them calmly sipping her tea. After they completed their report, Sarah Jane set her tea cup down and rested her folded hands on the table and listened to the team interact with the Director.

"That's about it, Pete. BW and her team learned that the Blue Box was moved to Van Statten's facility in the Forest of Cheem. We've agreed to meet with them later today to discuss things," the Doctor confirmed, stretched out on the sofa with his trainer clad feet propped up on a table in front of him.

"BW?" Sarah Jane asked with an arched brow. "Sounds like you and Bad Wolf have reached some sort of agreement. An alliance of sorts?"

The Director stopped and stared hard at the Doctor. "Doctor, I don't want this getting personal. I don't need to remind you of that stunt your team pulled in Norway."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Norway's been sorted. BW and I hashed it out and Roranicus over there got the Gingers and the Healer to agree to a clean slate."

The Director turned his sharp gaze on Roranicus who had a bottle of Vitex half way to his mouth. "Well, I may have suggested it would be good for everyone to let bygones be bygones…uh, sir" Roranicus said nervously.

"Yeah and none of that had anything to do with Pond standing by you lookin' hot," Jack teased from his chair whilst playing with a pen light.

"All right, that's enough. All of you," Sarah Jane ordered. She turned to the Doctor. "I take it you have good reason to meet with Bad Wolf's team today. Are you planning some sort of cooperative partnership in this?"

"Oh, I think Bad Wolf would like to be really cooperative with the Doctor," Jack teased and winked at the Doctor who scowled back at him.

The Director scrubbed at his face. "I don't like it. How do you know you can trust them? What if they're lying to you about this whole Forest of Cheem thing?"

The Doctor stood up abruptly. "No. She wouldn't lie about this. Not with what we found in Utah."

"You don't know that. I'm warning you Doctor. Don't let personal feelings get in the way of the mission," the Director warned. "

The Doctor walked up and stared at the Director darkly. "Personal feelings are already involved in this, Pete. You and I know Archangel was behind that Dalek incident. This isn't just about procuring an artifact. This is about keeping a powerful object from Archangel."

"You don't have proof that it was Archangel. What if it's these Powells that are leading you astray?" the Director responded.

The Tin Dog stood up. "No, sir. The Doctor's right. This has Archangel written all over it. As much as I wanna believe them Powells are pullin' one over on us, I don't. If Archangel's involved, we need all the help we can get. Besides, Bad Wolf's got a thing for the Doctor. She ain't gonna do anythin' to hurt him," the Tin Dog explained with a smirk.

The Doctor turned to him annoyed but Sarah Jane intervened before her boys devolved into a shouting match . "Gentlemen, I think you're both right. Cool heads must prevail and a cautious approach is warranted. We can't ignore that Archangel may have a hand in this. For now, the wisest course of action may be to pool our resources."

"My Sarah Jane, the voice of reason," the Doctor said brightly.

"Well, we better be off then. The lovely Powells are waiting for us to save the day!" Jack said with enthusiasm as he started out of the room.

"Doctor," the Director called out as the team was exiting. "I don't need to remind you how personal relations with the competition can go badly. Let's not repeat the Madame affair shall we."

The Doctor's eyes darkened. "Bad Wolf is not the Madame. Reinette always made clear she would play both sides. It was her nature to flatter and entice even the most powerful men to achieve her goal. She's a respected and talented courtesan. If anything went wrong with that case, it was my fault for not listening to her. Bad Wolf couldn't divide her loyalties if she wanted to. It would tear her apart. She cares too much."

"Exactly," the Director responded. "She won't divide her loyalties. Especially, between you and her team," the Director warned, before turning away to answer his mobile.

"Doctor," Sarah Jane said as she walked up to him. She could sense he had already developed strong feelings for Bad Wolf. He may have been enchanted by the Madame and respected her intellect and perhaps was even infatuated by her, but his feelings for Bad Wolf were different. The Madame hurt him but Bad Wolf could break his heart.

The Doctor turned and looked at her. "The Director is right you know. Bad Wolf will never betray her team's trust for anyone."

"Sarah, everything in me says to trust her. She's just…." the Doctor said, not finishing his sentence but saying it all with his eyes.

"I know," she said softly gazing at him as if she could read his mind. Sometimes he wondered that maybe she could. Sarah Jane sighed. "You are without a doubt the most brilliant man I have ever met. The easy way would be for me to tell you to follow the Director's advice. But Doctor, sometimes the easy way is not always the best way. Though the Director is right and things could go badly, some things are worth getting your heart broken for. Just remember, that doesn't mean it should cost you your life or the lives of your team. Be careful." He nodded and followed his team out.

When Sarah Jane turned around, the Director looked concerned and annoyed. "Oh stop it. You knew this day would come. He can't stay the lonely god forever."

The Director looked pointedly at her. "Sarah Jane..."

"It might be time to make a gesture of good will to the Matriarch to prevent things from getting out of hand," Sarah suggested.

The Director sighed and sat down at his desk. "Things are already out of hand, Sarah Jane."

"Perhaps," she acknowledged. "Then again, maybe this is an opportunity."

"An opportunity?" he asked, intrigued. "Go on."

She smiled thoughtfully. "You are without a doubt a cunning and forward thinking businessman. I'm sure you can find a way to take this new found friendship between Bad Wolf and the Doctor and make something of it that would be… beneficial for all," Sarah Jane said, smiling quietly at him.

The Director smiled back at her. "You are a perceptive and clever woman with vision, Sarah Jane. Let's just hope the Matriarch and can share that vision," the Director said as he tapped his fingers on his desk in contemplation of how best to approach the Matriarch and what type of persuasion it would take to convince her to meet with him.

At the Lib, the Powell ladies sat in their typical corner enjoying tea, coffee and orange cranberry scones.

"You're sure this is a good idea, Bad Wolf?" the Healer asked, sipping her latte.

"I know it's not gonna be easy and there are hard feelins all around, but if Archangel is involved, we could use a hand. The Doctor has the most experience with The Master. We just need to stay on our toes and realize the blokes'll try and bulldoze their way through and we're gonna have to rein 'em in."

"Rein 'em in! That's a bit rich. That's like trying to stop a herd of rampaging Judoon warriors," Donna quipped, remembering their experience in India when they had to work with a platoon of hardened grunts who were more interested in blowing things up than listening to reason. Donna had been miffed at how they had patted her on the head and continued their assault on a town that was clearly not occupied by their opposition. Many people had died because the Judoon ignored her intel.

"Oh, I think we can handle those boys," Pond said, grinning as if she was looking forward to it.

Donna snorted. "Handling the boys," Donna said, making the quote sign with her fingers, "is different than handling Roranicus. You put that group of juvenile delinquents together and they get all full of 'em themselves. You saw what an arrogant prat that Doctor was at Van Stattens thinkin' he could order us around."

Bad Wolf sipped her coffee thinking about that moment. She put her cup down and looked at Donna. "Look, I know the Doctor was out of line and let his temper get the better of 'im but he's normally not like that."

"Oh really, and why was he so stroppy then?" Donna asked with a knowing smile.

Luckily for Bad Wolf, the boys swaggered in so she didn't have to answer. "Look what the cat dragged in, the skinny boy, the flirt, the techy prat and boy wonder," Donna announced.

"Donna," Bad Wolf warned and stood up. "Hello," she said almost shyly looking at the Doctor.

"Hello," the Doctor said softly back.

The Tin Dog rolled his eyes. The Captain grinned. "Ladies, I know you all are happy to see us so let's get down to business," the Captain said enthusiastically. Roranicus sat next to Pond who handed him a biscuit. The Tin Dog sat near the Healer and winked at her as he pulled out his ipad. The Doctor sat in the chair Bad Wolf had vacated and propped up his feet on the small table in the sitting area.

"Do you mind?" Donna asked him, looking at his feet and then glaring at him.

"Nope!" he answered, popping his ps.

Bad Wolf sat on the stuffed arm of the chair the Doctor sat in. "All right, first things first," she announced, getting everyone's attention. "We're workin' this thing together so that means no one's cuttin' anyone out of anythin. The Doctor and me are still team leaders and will be makin' decisions together, but if push comes to shove and the Doctor or I tell you to run…"

"We mean run," the Doctor finished for her. "If Archangel is involved in this, we don't have time to question orders in the field. We all have to be together on this. The Master is a genius and will play on your weaknesses. I guarantee that he knows of any frictions between any and all of us and he will use it against us. Now is the time to set aside our differences and trust each other."

"All right. You want us to trust you. Well, where I come from trust is earned," the Healer said, staring directly at him.

"Yeah, well that goes both ways, sweetheart," the Tin Dog shot back with a challenging look.

The Doctor sat back pulling at his hair in frustration. Bad Wolf stood up and began pacing. "Look, we don't have time for this. We need to move past Amsterdam and Norway. It's too dangerous, get it? The only thing we need to focus on is keepin' the Blue Box from Archangel."

"Bad Wolf is right," Roranicus said quietly. "I think we should all give our word that from now on, we work together. This isn't about who gets to the Blue Box first. This is about a team effort. As long as we are on this mission, no more pranks and everyone supports everyone else." He looked over to the Doctor. "Right?"

"Well said, Roranicus," the Doctor said pleased. "BW and I both agree it's best if we work together." Jack snickered. Donna looked at him annoyed. Bad Wolf crossed her arms. The Doctor cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he started and glared at Jack. "We are stronger working together. I would suggest that we combine our information and then get to the Forest of Cheem as quickly as possible."

Everyone seemed to think about this. Some sighed. Roranicus looked hopefully at Pond who smiled back at him flirtatiously. The Healer looked the Tin Dog up and down with a slight smile and a nod. The Tin Dog smiled back at her with a cocky grin. The Captain nodded his head at the Doctor. Donna pulled out her ipad and began tapping away. She looked up and found everyone staring at her. "Well, what are you lot starin' at. Let's get to it. We don't have all flippin' year. For all we know Archangel is already on their way!"

Bad Wolf and the Doctor huddled close together as the two teams began sharing information and discussing what needed to happen and how they could make this work. Somewhere along the way, Bad Wolf's hand found the Doctors. Their clasped hands almost acted as a symbol of the new understanding between the two teams and one that was not missed by their team mates.

They each kitted out with their own equipment and met up to take the Gallifreyan's corporate jet. They arrived at a small practically abandoned airfield outside the Forest of Cheem. Ianto had arranged two SUVs to transport them into the forest. The small airstrip was unattended and the keys to the vehicles were left in the ignition. Ianto, who had flown in ahead of them and was based in a nearby town, had explained that no one liked to go near the Forest of Cheem. Local legends were filled with gruesome stories about evil lurking deep within the forest. The Doctor hypothesized this mythology was probably exploited by Van Statten to keep his facility secret and secure. Without much delay, the two teams loaded into each vehicle.

The Healer climbed into the drivers seat of one vehicle with Donna next to her. Bad Wolf crawled into the back followed by the Doctor. Bad Wolf raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" he asked innocently.

"Wouldn't you rather ride with the rest of your team?" Bad Wolf asked.

"Naw. Besides, how are we to trust each other if we don't ya know integrate more," he said as he buckled himself in.

Donna muttered, "Integrate, right. Could he get anymore more suggestive?"

Bad Wolf looked off to the side trying to hide her smile but eventually turned back to him.

"So you sayin' I should ride with the Captain and the Tin Dog to make sure we're integratin' proper like?" she asked, playing with a piece of hair and giving him a naughty grin.

"What? No, no, no! The Captain hardly needs integrating. Besides, Pond and Roranicus can work on making everyone play nicely together."

Donna scoffed, "Right. Like those two need any more encouragement to play around." She then turned around and pointed a glare at the Doctor who seemed to shrink down just a bit before turning another brilliant smile at Bad Wolf.

In the second vehicle, the Captain slipped into the driver's seat with Tin Dog beside him while Roranicus and Pond sat in the back. "The Doctor?" the Tin Dog asked with a knowing smirk.

"Says the two teams need to form a cohesive unit and the best way is for us to mix it up a bit. Kind of merger, ya know," the Captain responded with a twinkle in his eye as he looked in the rear view mirror at Roranicus and Pond quietly talking and looking at his ipad.

"Mixing it up are we?" the Tin Dog asked, still grinning. "Yeah, I could do that."

Jack turned to him. "Sure ya can. I'm sure Donna would love to spend some time with you," Jack said laughing.

"The Ginger General? I don't bloody think so!" the Tin Dog retorted.

"Oi! Watch it up front Metal Mutt," Pond chastised. Roranicus tried to hide his laughter behind a cough.

"Now see here Puddle, I'm not gonna just sit here and let you Powells disrespect us. We're s'pose to work together as equals," he said indignantly.

"That's Pond!" Amy almost shouted at him. "And, if we're equals and you want respect than you better start givin' it. Donna's done more intel work than you have so you might start givin' her a little credit. Besides, if you really want the Healer to like you, you better start bein' nicer to all of us."

This grabbed the Tin Dog's attention. "Why you think I'm concerned about the Healer likin' me?"

Pond sat back and smiled at him. "Oh Please, it's obvious. You two may snip at each other but there's a reason and it isn't 'cos you hate each other. Now, if you knew someone who was a friend of her's that could, I dunno help you get to know her better, might help you to charm her," Pond said as the car started to move.

The Tin Dog thought about this for a moment. "All right, let's say I buy what your sellin. What do you want exactly?"

"Bad Wolf wants us to work together on this and we don't have time to bicker. Let's just do our jobs and be cordial. Maybe afterwards, we can all go out for Thai at the Healer's favorite place. I could even say it was your idea, but only if you're gonna be civil."

"Sounds like a deal to me," Jack said, as he drove them toward the mist enshrouded dark woods ahead of them.

"This Thai place wouldn't be Sala Thai would it?" the Tin Dog asked.

"Quid pro quo," Pond answered with a raised eyebrow.

The Tin Dog sighed. "Fine. I like her all right. She's smart and has a nice smile," he said and looked at Pond.

"And?" she asked.

"You're killin' me here Pond! Okay, fine. She's bright and maybe she could keep up with me." Pond smiled knowing that was probably the best he could do but it would be enough for now.

Conversation in both vehicles was light, bantery and peppered with discussion about what they'd find in the Forest of Cheem. It wasn't long before both vehicles turned onto a bumpy, dirt road that took them deep into the forest. The trees stretched straight skyward, the canopy blocking out the sun. The temperature dropped and the forest grew thicker, the deeper they traveled. Soon, they reached the end of the road.

The air was cool and crisp as they stepped out of their vehicles. They zipped up their coats or jackets and put on their backpacks for the trek ahead of them.

"It's a bit like something out of a fairy tale," Bad Wolf breathed.

"Yeah, kind of like you expect the huntsman to ride out of the woods on some great black horse," Jack agreed.

"Or a dragon to sweep down and roast us alive," the Tin Dog said as he looked into the thick woods.

"All right, enough of that," the Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic and did a quick scan. "We don't want Archangel to get there ahead of us so let's get moving."

"Right, GPS says we should head this way," the Healer said motioning in a particular direction.

"Agreed," the Tin Dog said, standing next to her.

The group set out into the woods, the damp mustiness enveloping them as damp leaves were crushed beneath their feet. An eerie quiet set in, interrupted only by the sound of a few birds and squirrels jumping tree to tree. It seemed like the deeper they walked into the woods, the quieter everything became until soon the only sound was them hiking amongst the trees. They stopped to rest near one straight tall pine with a trunk as wide as a Volkswagon.

The Doctor handed Bad Wolf a canister of water and sat down next to her on a fallen tree. "Thanks," she said to him and reached into her pack and handed him a packet of trail mix.

"Oooo banana chips!" he exclaimed. "I love bananas!"

Roranicus rolled his eyes. "Now you've done it. We'll have to listen to him ramble on about bananas for the rest of the trip," he moaned.

"Oi! Bananas are good. Best thing in the universe!" the Doctor admonished him.

Donna just looked at him as if he were a nutter. "Only you would say that. Honestly your like some kind of space man with all the twittering on about the stars and the universe. I don't know how Bad Wolf puts up with you."

The Doctor looked offended. Bad Wolf slid over and put her arm through his. "I love to hear about the stars and how stars are born," she said and smiled at him. He felt all his indignation drain out of him as he looked into her eyes. There was just something about Bad Wolf that made him not feel so weighted down by the years. She just had such a fresh positive outlook on things.

Pond stuffed her hands into her gray leather jacket and kicked some mud off her boots. "How much further anyway?" she asked as she plopped down next to Roranicus.

"It's hard to tell. There's something' weird 'bout these woods. We keep losin' GPS." Tin Dog explained as he tapped his hand held against his palm.

They kept hiking until mid afternoon when they came upon a clearing at a lake. The Doctor announced it was time for a break and for them to assess their location since the GPS was malfunctioning. The sun came out from behind the clouds and danced across the water of the lake which was clear and the purest blue. The Doctor gallantly took off his coat and spread it out before Bad Wolf. "My lady," he said motioning toward his coat.

Bad Wolf grinned. "Why thank you, Lord Doctor," she responded and settled down on the coat with the Doctor stretched out next to her.

"What, no coat for me?" Donna teased as she found a boulder to settle onto boulder. The Doctor ignored her, all his attention on Bad Wolf.

Bad Wolf leaned back and sighed, enjoying the warm sun. The Doctor looked at her, his eyes drawn to her lips. He remembered those lips. They were soft and fit against his mouth quite nicely.

Rose looked over and smiled at him. "This reminds me of Prague," he babbled suddenly. "Remember that café along the Vltava River. The water sparkled and the wind kept blowing your hair in your face."

Bad Wolf grinned. "It was our first date," she suggested shyly.

"We had chips!" he replied, grinning brightly.

"And smugglers trying to blow up the city," Rose reminded him

"Ah yes, we were chased through the streets by the Horde of Travesties and broke up their smuggling ring, delivering them to the authorities. A rather brilliant accomplishment and stunning team work on our part. Sort of shows compatibility doesn't' it?" he suggested flirtatiously.

"Oi, where were we when this happened?" Donna demanded with an arched brow.

"Oh, you were in the theatre with that acting troop, the Arcalians, down in the labyrinth beneath the city. Remember, they were being held for ransom?" Bad Wolf reminded her.

Oh, I remember. That prat, Borusa kept whinging on and on about how the government would bail them out," the Healer said, shaking her head.

Jack's head shot up. "Borusa! You mean that loud mouth that climbed out of the sewer in the middle of a fire fight with smugglers? Didn't he quote something out Hamlet and fall to the ground?"

"We told him not climb out of there but he was insistent," Pond remarked rolling her eyes.

"Nearly got us bloody well killed savin' his life," the Tin Dog complained.

"It was a good distraction though. Wasn't it Doctor?" Bad Wolf said, grinning at the memory of how they used it to get the horde to chase them where they had the authorities waiting.

"All worked out in the end!" the Doctor agreed, remembering how Bad Wolf had kissed him goodbye after that adventure. It was their first meeting and quite memorable. She had been brilliant and witty and caught his attention. Suddenly, his sonic flashed.

"Doctor, what was that?" Bad Wolf asked, tensing up as she stared at the flashing sonic."

"Something's coming," he said, a worried look on his face as he stared up at dark clouds rolling in.

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to my Whovian sistahs timelord1 , who_in_whoville and aintafraidanoghosts who pushed me along to work on this. This chapter begins with our two teams in the Forest of Cheem. Thank you for reading and sorry I keep posting two chapters at once. I plan on one chapter but the word count explodes!
> 
> * * *

Previously: "Something's coming," he said, a worried look on his face as he stared up at dark clouds rolling in.

"Looks like a storm," the Tin Dog said as he quickly gathered his gear. Soon, they could hear thunder and began making their way into the forest looking for cover from the storm.

The Healer ran up to Bad Wolf. "If we're where I think we are, there's a structure near here. We might be able to take shelter there." The Doctor nodded at Bad Wolf as he scanned the area around the woods nervously.

"Right, let's head out," Bad Wolf told everyone.

Rain began falling in heavy drops as everyone zipped up their coats and followed the Healer and Tin Dog who were leading the way to shelter. It rained buckets on them as they made their through the woods toward what the hoped would be a warm place to wait out the storm. The wind picked up and began howling through the trees and they knew they had to find shelter quickly. As they made there way through some of the thicket, the stepped out into a small clearing on which sat an old run down stone house built into a hill side, surrounded by large boulders and with deep green moss growing on the stones. The roof was covered with wet greet vines, the windows were shuttered and a blue wooden door on the side of the house appeared worn but secure. The group huddled around Tin Dog and the Healer.

"What's the hold up? Why are we waitin?" Donna wanted to know, her hands shoved into the pockets of her coat.

"There's something' weird 'bout this house," the Tin Dog announced looking at his hand held and wiping water off of it.

"Weird or not, it's shelter and we're wet and freezing so shift!" Donna commanded and then stepped forward soon followed by everyone else. The door wouldn't open.

"Allow me," Captain Jack said right before he kicked it in and held out his arm gallantly. Donna rolled her eyes and marched in with a terse, "Thanks!"

Inside, it was obvious no one had lived here in a long time. It was dusty, filled with cobwebs dirty wood floors and decrepit looking wooden tables and chairs and little else. The Doctor walked over to a stone fireplace and began examining it for safety. Roranicus found some old wood next to it that looked dry. Pond and Donna went to explore another room. Bad Wolf walked over to the Doctor to help with the fire. The Captain stood back with the Tin Dog and the Healer who were looking at their hand helds and frowning.

"Something up you two?" the Captain asked as he secured the door against the pounding rain.

"Yeah, weird vibrations, almost like what you'd find around heavy machinery," the Tin Dog explained.

"Agreed," the Healer confirmed. "You'd think we were in an industrial area, not in an old stone cottage in the middle of the forest. I don't like it."

"Maybe were near Van Statten's facility?" the Captain suggested.

The Doctor popped back over to them, having started the fire which Roranicus and Bad Wolf now tended. He leaned over and looked at the Tin Dog's and the Healer's data. "Yep, I'd say we are right where we want to be!"

The Tin Dog reached for his gun as something in the house creaked. Everyone stared at the stairs which led to a second story. "Easy," the Doctor warned.

"Easy? We're in an old run down house in the middle of some mysterious forest that's like something outta a fairy tale! Wouldn't be surprise to see an old witch come out and try to throw us in the oven for supper!"

"What?" the Doctor exclaimed. "Nooo, there's no old witch here. I mean we'd have seen a familiar or seen evidence of potions or such. Now, wouldn't surprise me to see an adipose running about the floor boards. I mean they are cute little buggers and do like to curl up to nice warm bodies but they won't kill you. Just take a nibble or two. Well maybe more than two for someone who insists on eating as much ice cream as you do," the Doctor teased Tin Dog.

The Tin Dog looked nervously around the floor and might have shuffled back a few steps. The Healer smirked. "Don't worry Tin Dog, I'll protect you," she promised. He looked up at her and then smiled.

"Enough discussion about cute little rodents that like to eat you!" Donna ordered as she and Pond walked back in. "The kitchen's a waste so we'll make camp right here unless there's somethin' we can use from upstairs?" Donna asked

"We haven't been up there yet," Roranicus said after poking at the fire to make sure it had plenty of fuel.

Donna huffed. "Do I have to do bloody everything around here! You Captain Innuendo go upstairs and see what's useful."

The Captain stood up and grinned. "Yes, Ma'am," he said and saluted her with a cheeky grin and bounded upstairs. Before anyone could make a comment, they heard a loud crash and a string of expletives with the Captain practically falling down the stairs.

The Doctor put his glasses on and walked over to him. He stood over the Captain staring down at him. "You all right?"

The Captain now laying on the dirty wooden floor winced and sarcastically replied, "Just peachy." Everyone looked warily up the stairs. The Tin Dog whipped out his gun.

"Oh put that away," The Doctor said irritated.

"What was up there?" Donna demanded as the Healer checked over the Captain.

"Oh you know, your standard woodland creatures who got a bit miffed at their home being invaded."

"Couldn't keep their paws off of you huh?" Pond teased.

The Captain sat up and looked at her annoyed. "Yeah, that's it." he answered sarcastically and he looked up the old rickety stairs toward the loft space.

"Yes, well think we'll be stayin' downstairs tonight." Bad Wolf said. "So, let's get camp set up since it doesn't sound like this story is gonna let up anytime soon."

They all worked together to set up their camp. The Doctor and Roranicus went upstairs to evict any other furry roommates which thankfully they did not find. They did find an open window and leaky roof. Just to be sure, everyone decided they would take turns on watch.

After a meal of reconstituted dried beef turned into a stew by the Healer and Donna and some chocolate biscuits which Donna had to eventually hide from the Doctor, they all sat back and talked.

"So what do you lot think of this Blue Box?" Bad Wolf asked the Gallifreyans.

"Maybe it's just what it says on the tin, a big blue box," the Tin Dog said.

"But, it's got to be more than that. You heard that kid at Van Statten's. It was driving people mad to be around it much less look at it," the Healer reminded him. "That means it has a physical or psychological effect on people."

"Maybe there's something inside of it. A few years back Torchwood was playing around with psychographs and behavior control. Could be something inside broadcasting a signal that's causing hallucinations," the Captain suggested.

"Or a hallucinogenic substance. Certain gasses are invisible and could be leaching out. That would cause disorientation," Rory guessed.

"Or it could be built from something' that causes people to go barmy," Donna said, pulling a blanket around her.

The Doctor looked interested in Donna's theory and then turned to Bad Wolf. "What about you BW? What do you think?"

She looked back at him. "Maybe it's intelligent and doesn't want anyone near it. Seems like it would be a good defense mechanism. It's blending in like a chameleon, doesn't let you see it unless it wants you to."

The fire popped and everyone jumped. The Tin Dog grinned. "The Blue Box is alive? Oh come on BW!"

The Doctor was not laughing. "It's a possibility. We shouldn't rule anything out. The fact is, even if we find it before Archangel, we have to get close enough to transport it. Any of the ideas you've postulated could effect how we approach or move it."

"Well someone's been moving it. It had to get to Van Statten's bunker and to the warehouse here somehow," Pond reminded him.

"Yeah, but what if something happened to those people who moved it. Truth is, we don't know what long term exposure does to you. All we know is that people don't want to be near it or can't see it," the Healer pointed out.

"We'll figure it out when we find it and none of us are gonna find it tonight so let's just get some rest," Donna said as she snuggled down for the night. "Who wants first watch?"

"I'll take it," Bad Wolf offered.

"I'll keep you company," the Doctor said and sat next to her.

The Captain smiled. "I'll take next watch when you two love birds are done uh watching," he said with a naughty smirk.

"Do I have to come over there and smack you?" Donna called out from beneath the covers. "Lights out now!"

"What no good night kiss?" the Captain teased.

Donna sat up and glared at him. "I'll give you a good night kiss all right if you don't shut it now!"

"Captain," the Doctor warned.

Everyone settled down leaving just Bad Wolf and the Doctor sitting by the fire. Eventually, he stood up and held out his hand to her, giving her one of his most charming grins. She could not resist. "Guard duty," he whispered to her. "Time to make the rounds." They walked up stairs and to make sure everything was secure. It was wet from the rain leaking through the roof.

Bad Wolf walked over to the shuttered window and peaked out. The Doctor walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She smiled and leaned back into him. "Thinking I might like guard duty," Bad Wolf whispered.

"Mmmm, it does have it's perks," he whispered into her ear as he began to gently nibble on her. A loud noise made them both stiffen. Now on high alert, they crept downstairs and stopped at the bottom. "Is that the Tin Dog?" Bad Wolf asked.

The Doctor exhaled. "Blimey, he must have forgotten his nose strips," the Doctor whispered as several people in the group stirred from their sleep. Bad Wolf and the Doctor watched as Donna sat up and threw a pair of gloves at Tin Dog who snorted and mumbled something about monkeys and dancing before turning over and going back to sleep.

Bad Wolf looked at the Doctor with an arched brow. "And you go on top secret assignments with 'im?" she teased.

The Doctor shrugged and reached into his pocket producing a some pistachios and offered her one. She took some dropping one on the floor which disappeared beneath the floor boards. After a few seconds they heard it land. Bad Wolf looked up at the Doctor who grinned back at her. "Come on," he whispered grabbing her hand as they looked for an entrance to the cellar. They found it off of the kitchen at the same time they found Pond and Roranicus snogging. The Doctor shined a light on them and Bad Wolf cleared her throat.

Roranicus jumped back. "Doctor, Bad Wolf uh Hi." Pond just smiled looking pleased. "Shouldn't you two be getting some rest?" The Doctor asked.

Pond looked pointedly at how the Doctor and Bad Wolf were holding hands. "Shouldn't you be on guard duty and when I say guard duty I don't mean sneaking off for snogging."

"We were not sneaking off for…wait a minute…" he started to defend himself to Pond's amusement.

"Doctor," Bad Wolf interrupted. "Focus. Investigatin' the Cellar, yeah," she reminded him.

"Cellar?" Roranicus asked.

"What's in the cellar?" Pond asked curious now.

"Don't know. Wanna find out?" Bad Wolf asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Oh goody, let's go into a dark and dangerous cellar that has God only knows what in it," Roranicus said dryly, realizing snogging time with Pond was now over.

"Don't be Mr. Grumpy Face," Pond cajoled him and kissed him softly. She then turned to Bad Wolf. "What are we waitin' for? Let's go find out what's down there!"

The Doctor Grinned and slapped Roranicus on the shoulder. "Oh I like her!"

Roranicus sighed and followed the Doctor, Pond and Bad Wolf to the old creaky wooden door which the Doctor threw open. They were immediately enveloped by the scent of decay, moisture and dust.

Bad Wolf peered down into the darkened entrance. "Could be anythin' down there."

"Yep," the Doctor answered rocking back on his heels, excitement lighting his eyes. "Sort of reminds you of Amsterdam doesn't it," he whispered as he activated the torch setting on his screwdriver and shined it into the black abyss.

Roranicus glared at him. Bad Wolf giggled. "Don't let the rest of your team hear you say that. I don't think they had a real good time there," Bad Wolf teased as they made their way down into the dark, dank cellar.

"Don't know why," Pond continued. "Seemed to me everyone had a good time in the Red Light District. Course some more than others."

"Not funny," Roranicus admonished her.

The stairs creaked and crumbled a bit beneath them as they worked their way down into the cellar. It was built into the ground. The walls and floor were dirt and it was very closed in. The Doctor upped the brightness of his torch as they looked around. There was some old shelves and busted glass jars along with deteriorated boxes as if something had been eating at them. Pond and Roranicus strained to see what was written on some of the tins and glass bottles on one of the shelves. They stuck very close to each other.

Bad Wolf gripped the Doctor's hand. "Doctor, I need to tell you somethin," she said softly, looking around at the darkened crevices of the shelving.

"Mmm," responded fixated on the walls.

Something fell off one of the shelves and she gripped his hand harder. "Umm, I don't do well with rats," she whispered and moved closer to him staring at the floor.

He stopped and looked at her in amusement. "You'll face down assassins, terrorists and a Dalek but you don't do rats?" he asked grinning.

Bad Wolf glared at him. "We all have stuff that bothers us okay. I hear pears just about push you over the edge so don't go teasin' me 'bout nasty rodents with sharp teeth," Bad Wolf warned as she again looked warily at the floor.

"There is no comparison between rats and pears," he informed her sniffing and walking over to a wall with her clinging to his side.

Roranicus and Pond turned around and stared at them. "Oh look tinned pears," Roranicus said, holding up a corroded tin.

The Doctor's head snapped up and he took a step back. Pond giggled as Roranicus tossed it aside grinning.

"Instead of playing around, what don't you two help. Have a look at this wall," the Doctor ordered as he put his hand on the wall and then pressed his ear to it. Bad Wolf wrinkled her nose at the thought of pressing his ear to the wall where bugs and God knows what lived.

She looked at Roranicus who had winced himself. "You got your mobile Pond?" she asked. Pond nodded and the two women started an app designed to track unusual vibrations or energy spikes that they had been told the Blue Box emitted. Immediately, both Pond's and Bad Wolf's mobiles indicated unusual readings.

"Doctor, Roranicus," Bad Wolf said trying to get their attention as both men now seemed obsessed with the dirt wall. "Did you feel that, Roranicus?" the Doctor asked as they both pulled away from the wall, brushing dirt of themselves.

"Vibrations," the Doctor said.

"It's not natural. Feels mechanical," Roranicus said.

"Yeah," Bad Wolf agreed and both she and Pond showed them their readings.

"I think maybe we're near Van Statten's storage facility," The Doctor said as he aimed his sonic at the dirt wall and it crumbled.

Bad Wolf walked over to it. "There's something there, a passageway or cavern."

"You thinking what I'm thinking," the Doctor asked.

Bad Wolf smiled brightly. "Time to pay a visit to Van Statten's super secret storage facility?"

"You don't know that this cave leads to it and even if it does, what if there's no way in?" Roranicus asked

"There's always a way in," Pond said smiling. "Come on, let's go get the others."

"What? Now?" Roranicus asked not looking forward to waking everyone up.

"Yep!" the Doctor said as he worked on tearing down more of the dirt wall.

Amy led Roranicus back up the stairs with him mumbling. "Fine, but you get to wake up Donna."

After they left, The Doctor and Bad Wolf found an oil lantern which he lit and they crawled into the cave. The light showed mineral deposits that sparkled and shimmered in the light.

"It's beautiful," Bad Wolf breathed. "Almost like stars." She turned to find him gazing at her, the light of the sonic and lantern sparkling in his deep brown eyes. Bad Wolf felt herself drawn to him, dropping the lantern to the floor as her arms wrapped around him and he pulled her into his embrace. Unlike the kiss at Van Statten's this was tentative and slow with soft nibbles and gently probing tongues and little nips until it deepened. Bad Wolf moaned into his mouth as she wrapped one of her legs around his and his hands wandered downward, cupping and massaging her in all the right places. Just as she ran her hands under his jacket and was getting to his tantalizing manly parts, someone cleared their throat. The two of them guiltily turned in unison toward the crowd gathered at the entrance from the house.

"You woke me up for this," Donna snarked while everyone else grinned at them.

Bad Wolf giggled and the Doctor looked up and sighed.

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There probably won't be too many more chapters. We left off with our two teams finding the cavern in the basement of the old rickety house in the Forest of Cheem. They are walking through the cave toward Van Statten's secret underground storage bunker.
> 
> * * *

It took the team a while to make their way through the cave as there was quite a bit of climbing over wet slippery rocks which left all of them dirty and tired. Of course, Bad Wolf and the Doctor didn’t seem too bothered by any of it and bantered about a variety of topics as they made their way deeper into the cave.

“Oh BW, did you see that millipede! It had to be a foot long! Reminds me of those earthworms we found in the sewers in Prague,” the Doctor called out excitedly right before Donna shrieked when a millipede fell on her shoulder.

“You, you geeky little strip of nothin! You did that on purpose!” Donna accused the Doctor while shaking her hair.

“I did not! It fell on all on its own and besides how could I know that you attract millipedes,” the Doctor proclaimed. He went over and sniffed her. “Must be your perfume,” he mused to which Donna slapped him.

“Ow!” he said and stumbled back while everyone watched in fascination and a bit of enjoyment. “Whatcha do that for?” he asked, rubbing his face.

“Cos you earned it! Now stop gawkin’ about bugs and move it, mister!” Donna shouted at him. Bad Wolf walked over.

“You all right, Donna?”

“Is she all right? I’m the one that was assaulted,” the Doctor said, gently touching his reddened face.

Donna glared at him before turning to Bad Wolf. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking. At least someone here cares.”

“I care!” the Doctor retorted.

“Maybe we should keep moving?” the Healer suggested as she and the Tin Dog moved forward tracking the vibrations on their hand helds followed by Pond and Roranicus. Bad Wolf grabbed the Doctor’s hand and pulled him along pouting the whole way while Donna nervously looked at the rocks around them.

The Captain swaggered over. “So, does the lady need protection from the ginger loving bug?”

“Zip it!” Donna said and walked off in a huff with the Captain grinning and following her.

Eventually the Tin Dog and Martha led them to an area where they could see the glow of lights beneath them. It was a ledge overlooking what appeared to be an underground warehouse.

The Healer pulled out some digital binoculars and scanned the area beneath them. “There don’t appear to be any guards.”

The Tin Dog pulled out something that looked like a gun and aimed it toward the storage area beneath them, sweeping it back and forth. “They’re usin’ laser detection. There’s a grid of sensors down there. We take one step and they’ll know we’re there. I’m bettin’ they also have cameras and maybe another back up motion detectin’ system.

The Healer pulled out her mobile and ran an app. “Yes, definitely video monitoring and some kind of sonic tech as well. Whatever they have down there, they want to keep it secure.”

Roranicus stepped up to them. “Question is, are they keeping something in or someone out?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” the Tin Dog asked.

“He means we don’t know what’s in there. They could have anything or anyone down there. This place is too secure for just a storage facility. Van Statten put a lot of effort into hiding it down here in this cave where it couldn’t be detected by satellite imagery and using the sonic technology to disrupt GPS. You did say your GPS wasn’t functioning when were in the forest. He’s hiding something,” the Doctor said.

“The Blue Box,” Pond suggested, pulling her own special goggles out and staring down at the lighted area beneath them. She adjusted her goggles to filter out everything except the laser beams and anything with an electronic signal coming from it.

“What do you think, Pond?” Bad Wolf asked her.

“Easy peasy,” she answered with confidence. “I’ve broken into more complicated systems than this.”

“Oh really,” the Captain asked. “Such as?”

Pond smiled confidently at him. “Koh-I-Noor,” she told him.

He looked at her askance. “No way. It only disappeared for forty-eight hours and after the dust settled it was revealed that it had just been transported to a lab for a new laser mapping program. It was just a bureaucracy snafu.”

“And you believe everything you read in the papers, do you?” Pond retorted.

Bad Wolf looked back at the Captain and smiled. “Pond’s right. Certain cocky individuals bragged it couldn’t be done. Pond proved them wrong. It was a big embarrassment.”

Donna shoved the Captain aside as she came to look over the edge and then turned back to him. “The laser story wasn’t a lie. Turns out the Kohr-I-Noor has certain properties that when focused through a laser helped defeat a particularly nasty paraiste that had infected the royal family.”

“Infection? What sort of infection?” Roranicus asked, interested in the story and not just because it involved Pond.

“They were exposed to a nasty parasite that was re-writing their DNA. Let’s just say that it didn’t react well to a burst of a certain kind of light,” the Healer explained.

“You used the diamond to project a controlled burst of non visible light bright enough to pierce the skin without burning them but still strong enough to effect a parasite infecting them on a cellular level. That’s just…well it’s impressive,” Roranicus said looking at Pond who smiled back at hm.

“We’re not just a courier service, you know. We’re good at what we do and we care,” Donna lectured, looking at the Captain and the Tin Dog. “Now then, can we all please focus on gettin’ into this storage place?”

“Right. Pond, what’s your plan?” the Doctor asked.

Pond’s plan was to shoot a line from their vantage point above the facility to the other side. She would zip line across, skim the wall and disable the security system using a small electromagnetic pulse device that had a small enough radius to not affect the team’s equipment but large enough to disable the security system. Once that was complete, the rest of the team would scale down the rock cliff to the storage facility and begin searching for the Blue Box.

Everything went smoothly with the exception of Donna complaining about repelling down the cliff face, but the Captain gallantly helped her descend despite her accusing him of feeling her up. Once they reached the ground, they spread out to cover the storage area quickly. The facility was cavernous with row after row of boxed freight, tables laid out with labeled devices, artwork; canisters and bottles containing various chemical or organic compounds and weapons of all sizes and types. The Healer, Tin Dog and Bad Wolf each took the lead scanning the various crates looking for the Blue Box. The Doctor was systematically destroying any weapons or dangerous substances he found. He had become deathly quiet at each new horror he found in this place.

Pond, Donna and Roranicus continued scouring the facility making sure any security systems were disabled and looking for an office or data center that would have records for what was stored here. The Captain took up the rear, not trusting how easy it had been to gain access to this place. He had a gut feeling they were being watched. As the Doctor reached the center of the facility and found some particularly nasty weaponry, the Captain’s instincts were proved accurate.

A group of guards dressed in protective black gear rushed at them from all sides surrounding the Doctor. A tall man wearing a well fitted charcoal grew suite walked in and smiled at the Doctor. The Captain ducked behind a large crate. The Healer and the Tin Dog disappeared along one side of the storage area and Bad Wolf had shimmied up on top of one of the larger crates watching the scene below.

“Brother Lassa, I suppose I should have expected seeing you. This is just the sort of hole you’d crawl out of,” the Doctor said, staring at the tall man with graying sideburns.

Brother Lassa seemed unnaturally still. “Doctor, what a pleasant surprise. You are looking…as cocky as ever. So enlighten me, how may we assist you today?” he asked with an evil smile.

The Doctor walked around a table trailing his fingers over some test tubes containing illicit substances, never taking his eyes off of Lassa. The guards around him never took their weapon’s aim off of him. Finally after the Doctor completed his circuit, he addressed Lassa. “Well, you could start by telling me what you think you’re doing here?”

“Why don’t you tell me? You do have a reputation for long and pontificating speeches. Unless, you don’t know?” The Doctor didn’t respond and just stared darkly at him. “Ahh, you don’t know, do you? Tsk tsk, the great Doctor is uninformed. How very negligent of you. Perhaps one of your annoying team mates has a better idea?”

“Team mates? What team mates?” the Doctor asked with little emotion.

“Come now Doctor, don’t insult my intelligence. We’ve been watching you and your little Scooby gang quite clumsily infiltrate this storage facility. It really is pathetic,” Brother Lassa insulted. The Doctor didn’t respond. Donna, on the other hand, may have called Brother Lassa a particularly evil name which echoed about the room. Brother Lassa smiled and inclined his head as a few of the guards went in the direction the noise came from.

“Now then, as much as I have enjoyed our little tête à tête, I must bid you farewell unless of course, you‘d like to join me? It would be a vast waste of resources to eliminate a man of your talents. Think of it Doctor, with our combined knowledge and power, no one could stop us. We could…do anything, shape this world and make it better. I will soon have an item of immeasurable power in my hands; together we could bring order out of chaos, stop wars, end hunger, and be the architects of our own perfection. No one could stop us.”

“Not even Archangel or the Master?” the Doctor asked tonelessly.

“We are men of intellect. With two such great minds working together along with the power to practically re-write reality, how could anything stop us,” Brother Lassa said almost seductively.

“No,” The Captain shouted from behind one of the crates. “Doctor, he’s insane. No one person or even group of people should have that kind of power.”

The Doctor smiled at Lassa. “Sounds like paradise.” Brother Lassa smiled at this. “Or Hell. I don’t think so,” the Doctor said with an edge, picked up a test tube filled with green fluid and hurled it at Lassa. Two of his guards jumped in front of him and were splashed with the liquid and fell to their knees, gasping.”

“Regeneration sickness,” the Doctor said tonelessly. “Curable with a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin or it results in indefinite coma.”

“Such a pity,” Brother Lassa said, carefully avoiding his fallen men. “Very well Doctor, it appears you have chosen your fate,” Brother Lassa said as he turned. He paused and looked back at the Doctor. “You know, I think the legendary Doctor should have an appropriately heroic death.” He nodded his head and a metal door slammed down behind where the group had entered the facility, sealing them in and startling the Captain who was only a few feet away. The guards retreated behind Lassa who pointed his mobile at a large metal barrel which popped open. A swarm of silver rats with glowing red eyes burst out. “Adieu Doctor,” Brother Lassa said and left.

The Doctor backed up. “Oh not the killer tin rodents!” he almost whined. The rats surged forward toward him making an awful squeaking noise combined with the sound of their teeth chattering and their little metal nails clicking against the stone floor. The Captain peered out from behind a crate and pulled his firearm and began shooting the silver rats. “Doc!” he shouted. “Whadda we doing here?”

“Climb!” the Doctor shouted as he backed into a table filled with an assortment of chemicals. He climbed on top and scanned the area looking for an escape route. Meanwhile, Bad Wolf stood up on top of the tall crate she had climbed. There were cables connected to it and a crane and pulley system used to move extra heavy crates around. She unhooked it from the crate and tested the give on it. She looked back at the Doctor completely surrounded by the rats who had climbed up onto the table and he was kicking them away.

Bad Wolf shivered involuntarily. “I may not be some brilliant mad scientist and might be a bit scared of hundreds of man eatin’ rodents but...I’m Bad Wolf and I’m not leavin’ him,” Bad Wolf muttered, grabbed the cable and walked to the edge of the crate. “Doctor!” she yelled, before jumping and swinging down toward him praying the cable didn’t drop too low or not far enough. The Doctor saw her and a huge smile lit his face. He jumped up and threw his arm around her as they swung across the silver rat infested floor toward the other side where the landed in a tangle of limbs on top of a stack of crates high in the air.

“Are you all right?” Bad Wolf asked, looking him over and running a hand threw his hair. He grinned and giggled before pulling her into an all out snog.

The Captain standing on a crate a hundred feet from them smiled before noticing the rats were trying to climb up the sides. “Uh, guys. I hate to interrupt and would love for you to continue if not join you, but…we have a serious problem.”

When they pulled apart, the Doctor leaned over and whispered into her ear, “Later without the interruptions and um killer rats.” He then winked at her.

Bad Wolf nodded her head and smiled. “Yeah.”

They looked over the side and watched as the rats began climbing. Bad Wolf shuddered and the Doctor grabbed her hand. “There’s got to be another exit,” he said and began scanning the room. Bad Wolf’s mobile rang. “Healer!” she shouted. “Are Tin Dog, Roranicus, Amy and Donna with you?”

“Tin Dog and I made it into some type of lab. I think Roranicus, Amy and Donna made it further into the facility before that Brother Lassa showed up. What’s your status?” the Healer asked.

Oh we‘re fine unless you count the metallic lookin’ rats tryin’ to eat us!” Bad Wolf shouted. “Don’t suppose you have a brilliant plant to get me, the Doctor and The Captain out of here?”

“Working on it. Sit tight, I’ll get you of there,” the Healer promised as she eyed a possible solution nearby.

Bad Wolf glared at her mobile. A piercing noise sounded and she watched the Doctor aim his sonic over the side. He turned back to her. “They’re not reacting to any sonic frequencies.”

Bad wolf dropped to her knees almost in defeat and then she had an idea. They were in a secret warehouse filled with weapons and dangerous artifacts. There must be something here they could use. She pulled out a mini laser cutting tool out of her pocket and began slicing open the crate. Once it was open, the Doctor shined his torch inside and grinned. “It’s a portable zero room!” He stood up and faced the Captain. “Jack! Look inside the crate! You can hide inside the zero room!”

The Captain gave him the thumbs up and began breaking into his crate. The zero room device was like a small portable virtual reality space. The Doctor and Bad Wolf dropped inside. The Doctor flicked a few switches turning it on and texted instructions to the Captain. It was a tall rectangular box about the size of a spacious broom closet. It would be a tight fit with the two of them inside and was designed for one person to be seated in a built in seat. Bad Wolf texted her team with their plan and they squeezed in with the Doctor in the seat and Bad Wolf in his lap. The Doctor activated it and chose a program. The dark closed in space turned into a starry night sky.

A cool breeze blew and Bad Wolf breathed a sigh of relief. The Doctor pocketed his sonic and looked at her. “Should be safe until the rest of the team works out what to do with the rats.”

Again, Bad Wolf shivered with the thought of being eaten by a swarm of rats. “You sure them things can’t get it here? I mean what about ventilation?”

“Oh the system is self contained. It was built to keep outside stimuli from intruding on the program. We’ll be fine in here for quite a while.”

Bad Wolf sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. “Wanna tell me about you and Brother Lassa?”

“No,” he answered firmly. “I’d rather enjoy a lovely evening of star gazing with you. I can’t remember the last time I slowed down enough to just look up at the stars,” he said, settling down and wrapping his arm around her.

Bad Wolf snuggled into him. “Me either. It’s lovely.”

The Doctor spent some time regaling her with stories about the different constellations and the mythology and history behind their names. Bad Wolf felt herself relaxing, listening to the cadence in his voice and the beautifully told stories. When he paused, she lifted her head up.

“Just making sure I’m not putting you to sleep,” he said with a bit of sparkle to his eyes.

“Mmmm, don’t think you would ever put me to sleep,” she said, her fingers gently caressing the back of his neck.

“Oh I don’t know about that. Under certain circumstances, say after a particular type of strenuous activity, might be nice to fall asleep together, especially under the stars.”

Bad Wolf smiled and gentle grasped his face turning it toward her. She slowly leaned in and barely brushed her lips against his. He leaned in further and she felt his lips pressing against hers. The kiss started out tentative, shy, almost a “Hello.” Soon it deepened and there were nibbles and tongues dancing together. Bad Wolf knew they were heading toward something that would change everything between them. She pulled back to catch her breath.

“You all right?” he asked.

“Oh me? I’m always all right.”

“That’s my line,” he responded.

She looked up at him confused. He smiled. “My team insists that I always say that even when I have blood gushing, a broken wrist or the worlds about to explode around us.”

Bad Wolf looked down shyly and then back up to him. “Then you know what it means.”

“Yeah, I do. You know I would never intentionally hurt you. You’re…well, you are BW and that means that you are someone I respect and care for. I care more for you than I’ve cared about anyone in a very long time.”

Bad Wolf nodded. “Me too. The caring part I mean. I’ve never met anyone like you before. You’re so…different.”

“Is that good different or bad different?” he asked teasingly.

She grinned in response. “Just different. When I’m with you, I feel very swept away, like I can feel the world turning beneath my feet.”

He stared into her eyes for a while before pulling her close and kissing her. This time, it was passionate with no hesitancy or reservations. He moaned into her mouth as he felt her fingernails graze his scalp and work down to his chest. She quickly pushed his jacket and coat off his shoulders and in return he helped her out of her leather coat. She felt him slid his hands under her t-shirt, unsnap her bra and began caressing her intimately. She unbuttoned his dress shirt and pulled up his undershirt as well until soon they were skin to skin, kissing, caressing and moaning their desire for one another. When he started kissing his way down her neck she thought she would burst into flames and knew without a doubt she wanted this with him.

Just as things were getting heated, buttons unfastened and zips yanked down, the door opened. Bad Wolf shrieked and turned with her arms covering her chest. The Doctor crankily stared at the Tin Dog and the Healer. “What?” he snapped.

The Tin Dog just grinned, threw his hands up and backed away. The Healer glared at the Doctor. “I flooded the facility with liquid nitrogen freezing the rats.”

The Doctor grinned. “Oh that’s brilliant!” he breated.

The Healer looked less than impressed by his compliment. “Donna wants us in the administrative office. That is, when you two are decent,” the Healer said in a clipped tone. She turned toward the Tin Dog. “And I thought Captain Pervert over there was bad. What is it with these zero things? They have some kind of shagging setting?” she asked and staring annoyed at the zero room units. The Tin Dog was eyeing them speculatively and then looked at her, naughty plans obvious in his eyes.

“Um, thanks Healer. We’ll be there in a mo,” Rose called out. She looked around for her bra while the Doctor sat there looking up toward the ceiling and breathing deeply.

“You okay, Doctor?” she asked, a bit pleased that he was this flustered and feeling a bit empowered that it was her who made him this way.

“Oh yes,” he said in a high pitched breathy voice almost squeaking when Rose wiggled on his lap. After she had her bra and top on she stood up to retrieve her jacket and the Doctor made a noise that was either a sigh of relief or frustration or maybe both. Once sorted, they both walked out. Bad Wolf, stopped and gasped at the frozen rats piled up around the open crate.

“BW?” the Doctor asked and looked at her staring at the rats. When she didn’t answer or move he swept her into his arms and carried her through the mounds of frozen rats that crunched under his trainer clad feet. Bad Wolf looked up at him and smiled.

Jack sauntered up next to them. “Pretty damned romantic, aren’t you, Doc?” he teased.

The Doctor glared in response. “Captain, I see that you made it through unscathed.”

“Oh I might have scathed a bit. Ya know, I might need to get one of those zero rooms for home. They have potential,” he said smirking.

“Oh don’t. Really, just don’t,” the Doctor said, wincing at the Captain’s suggestive comments. Bad Wolf just giggled as they made their way to the rest of the team. They found everyone grouped around Donna sitting at a desk zipping through holographic images and tapping at lighting speed on a keyboard. Everyone looked up when they entered and the Doctor set Bad Wolf down. There were smirks and several raised eyebrows.

“So!” the Doctor exclaimed and clapped his hands together. “What have we found?”

Donna practically snorted. “I,” she said emphasizing I, “found records showing that the Blue Box was moved days ago,” she said smugly.

“Days ago?” Bad Wolf asked. “How many and where to?”

“It was transported to some company by the name of H.C. Clements two days ago. Looks like it went to their Paris office.”

“H. C. Clements? Why is that name familiar?” Roranicus wondered.

“I’ll tell you why,” Pond stated. “It’s a high end private security firm. They have quite an elite clientele. I might‘ve had a run in with them once or twice,” she explained with a mischievous look in her eye.

Roranicus looked at her and smiled. His Pond, and he now thought of her that way, seemed to have “run ins” with several security companies as well as an affinity for identifying the security flaws in even the most high tech and secured places.

“Well, at least Archangel doesn’t have it and neither does Brother Lassa,” Jack said and leaned over Donna’s shoulder to read more. Donna looked up and glared at him. Jack pulled back but winked at her. He did enjoy punching Donna’s buttons.

“If it‘s on it‘s way to Paris, then that‘s where we head next,” the Doctor said, and glanced at Bad Wolf. He couldn‘t think of anyone he wanted to see Paris with more.

“We can’t just take off and leave this place like this,” the Healer said, looking over more records of all the weapons and illicit items stored in Van Statten’s secret facility. “There are things in here that could wipe out a city.”

Bad Wolf, had been silent at the mention of H. C. Clements. She had her suspicions as to why they could be involved, especially since the Blue Box was sent to Paris of all places. The Healer’s concern about the contents of the storage facility shook her out of her worries. “No, we can’t just leave this bunker like some terrorist’s shopping mart,” she said and turned to the Doctor.

He smiled at her. “Oh my team and I might be able to sort this place.” He turned toward his team with a manic grin on his face.

The Tin Dog looked entirely too pleased as he stepped forward. “Oh, don’t you worry, BW, no one‘s gonna find anything by the time we‘re done with this place,” the Tin Dog said cockily and then turned and knocked knuckles with Roranicus.

Donna rolled her eyes. “Boys and their toys,” she muttered under breath.

“Don’t be jealous, Donna. We’re always happy to share our toys,” Jack said, leaning against a wall with huge grin on his face.

Donna glared back at him. “Some of us don’t need toys.”

Just as the Captain was about to retort, Roranicus stepped in. “Right, let’s go get this place prepped.”

Bad Wolf looked at the Healer who nodded at her. “I’ll go watch over them and make sure they don’t blow us all up in the process.”

“Thanks, Healer,” Bad Wolf said and walked over to Pond and Donna but not before the Doctor caught her arm and pulled her a side.

He leaned in and intimately whispered into her hear. Although some of the team strained to hear, all they caught wind of was “Paris…stars…you and me.” This was followed by both of them staring dreamily at each other. Donna tapped her fingers on the desk and was starting to worry. She loved Bad Wolf like a sister and didn’t want to see her hurt. She had been watching the Doctor and was somewhat impressed with his intelligence and commitment to the mission, but, the Doctor, like all the Gallifreyans, had a bit of a reputation for swanning in to save the day, being all impressive and then swanning back out at a moments notice. This situation was ripe for heartbreak, not to mention, it could seriously impair their mission. For now, she would wait and watch, but the minute she thought Bad Wolf’s heart was in danger, the Doctor would learn exactly why she was called the Ginger General.

Bad Wolf couldn’t help but smile at the Doctor’s whispered promises. Although she was still nervous about letting him in completely, there was something about him that made her smile and nod her head in agreement with his seductive plans. “Think you should check on your team. The Tin Dog looked a bit too excited.” He leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss on her forehead before turning to run out after his team.

“Paris under the stars?” Pond asked.

Donna sighed. “Just be careful. The pretty ones are always a bit flighty not to mention, high maintenance.

Bad Wolf turned to Donna and smiled. Her team really did want what’s best for her and were fiercely protective as she was of them as well. “Thanks Donna, I’ll be careful. Why don’t you go ahead and download as much information off of Van Statten’s network as you can so we know what was stored here. Brother Lassa could have taken anything and it might be nice to have a list of Van Statten’s clients.”

“Agreed,” the Doctor said, looking at Bad Wolf, still not convinced she was seeing this Doctor thing clearly. While Donna worked at accesing the network, Bad Wolf and Pond explored the rest of the office.

The Gallifreyans were almost giddy as they ran around the facility prepping it for what they called “pyrotechnical sanctions.”  The Healer kept an eye on them, pointing out when she saw a dangerous weapon that would not react well to pyrotechnics and rolling her eyes at the Tin Dog when he smirked and promised her, “Don’t worry love, I’ll show you fire works the likes of which you’ve never seen!”  This was followed by a cheeky grin.   
   
Donna, who intermittently checked up on them, constantly muttered about children with matches, and would periodically shout out to them, “Oi!  Pyromaniacs, try to keep in mind we don’t want to level the forest!”  The Gallifreyans would just laugh and salute her saying, “Aye, aye Ginger General!”  They would then go on and finish their various tasks and Donna would return to the office shaking her head.  
   
For the most part, the Powells just watched the Gallifreyans antics with a horrified fascination.  Although they were not opposed to incendiary devices and they had on occasion destroyed a particular nasty criminal’s evil lair, they generally preferred more discrete methods.  At one point, Pond and Bad Wolf watched from a distance and munched on granola bars like it was some warped reality television show.  
   
Soon, both teams had completed their download of information and prepped the underground facility for demolition.  As they hunkered down behind some boulders about a half a mile from the facility, the Doctor was practically bouncing with excitement.  He looked over and winked at Bad Wolf as he held up his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the hidden storage bunker.  Within seconds the ground trembled and a rumbling sound could be heard as a plum of dust rose into the air.  They Gallifreyans were hooting, yelling and high fiving each other while the Powells just smiled and shook their heads.  
   
After the successful implosion of the hidden bunker, they began the long walk back to the airstrip.  Luckily, it ended up shorter than expected as Ianto had tracked their location and showed up with one of the SUVs. The nine of them squeezed into the SUV much to the delight of some and complaining of others.  The drive back to the airstrip was tense between Ianto and the Captain although with Donna huffing at every bump in road and lecturing everyone on inappropriate touching and keeping hands where everyone could see them, it was not quiet.  
   
Once in the air, Ianto and Donna went off by themselves to work on digging up more information on H.C. Clements and arranging accommodations in Paris.  The rest of the team curled up together to get some rest.  The Doctor looked down at Bad Wolf asleep next to him and smiled.  He was confident they would find the Blue Box and then he would show Bad Wolf Paris under the stars as it was meant to be seen.  He was sure everything would be perfect and he couldn’t have been more wrong. 

 

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The teams arrive in Paris where everything changes. Cliffie ending!
> 
> * * *

When the Matriarch and the Director turned to their teams, their smiles fell slightly. Sarah Jane, who was sitting off to the side with Ianto Jones, asked the teams to take a seat in a living room. Once everyone was settled, the Matriarch began the meeting.

“All right, now the lot of you listen up. The Director and I have come to an agreement,” she told them and then turned to wink at the Director who smiled back at her. She turned sternly back to the Gallifreyans and Powells. “We’re gonna handle this case together and that means that you lot are gonna pay attention to what the Director and I say. From now on, we’re one big happy team and that means no more prankin’ or competin’ with one another.” The Matriarch put her hands on her hips as she glared at everyone each in turn. Some of the Gallifreyans may have flinched while the Powells tried to hide their smiles. They were quite used to the Matriarchs stern lectures.

The Director walked over and stood next to the Matriarch forming a united front. “Due to the sensitive nature of this case, we need set aside any previous differences and form a united team. You all know about Archangel’s role in this. We don’t have time for petty bickering so I expect each and every one of you to watch out for each other and keep focused. The Matriarch and I will be working closely to provide you with whatever resources you need. Sarah Jane and Mr. Jones here, will also continue to assist you as necessary,” the Director informed them, nodding at Sarah Jane and Ianto.

“Now then,” the Matriarch announced. “The lot of you wreak and can’t be seen wandering about Paris lookin’ like you crawled out of a hole,” she announced wincing as she looked them up and down. The Doctor examined his suit and pouted at her.

“Rooms have been arranged for you two floors down. I believe you will all your essentials in order,” Ianto announced and indicated several envelopes sitting on a table before them.

The Captain pulled out his key and looked over at the Director. “No penthouse?” The Gallifreyans were accustomed to posh accommodations when not undercover.

“It would appear the costs of this case have escalated due to the incendiary habits of certain team members,” the Director said sarcastically and looked pointedly at the Gallifreyans.

“Well, we didn’t blow up anything up. We shouldn‘t be lumped in with them just ‘cos they‘re a bunch pyromaniacs” Donna announced indignantly.

The Matriarch crossed her arms. “Henriks ring a bell? They do have security cameras and got a right nice picture of pretty blonde girl in the electronics department setting off explosions and then this bloke in a brown coat followin‘ her example.”

“But that’s not fair!” the Healer defended. “We were under attack!”

“I don’t wanna hear it! You blew up Henriks and you all were seen doin’ it and now the Director and me have to fix it,” the Matriarch lectured.

“Let’s not forget blowing up a Dalek with a cobbled together laser and an explosive stiletto,” the Director reminded them. “Unit’s still inquiring about how that happened.”

“It was a Dalek,” Bad Wolf retorted, miffed that they were being chastised for saving everyone.

“What did you want us to do? Invite it to tea?” the Doctor asked flippantly, now bored with this whole conversation and playing absently with his sonic screwdriver.

“You did stop the Dalek but you also caught the attention of Unit, not to mention the American military. It’s taken quite a bit of political maneuvering by the Matriarch and I to protect you.”

“Protect us from what?” Rory asked, now a little concerned.

The Matriarch rolled her eyes. “Whadda you think? Do you think they don’t wanna lock you lot up in a room and debrief you for weeks on end?” she snapped at Roranicus who dug into his chair looking for an escape from her glare. She might be dressed in a designer suit and look the part of a polished lady, but no one could intimidate like the Matriarch.

“Let’s not forget the explosion in the Forest of Cheem and all them villagers bein’ upset when their lake drained ‘cos someone just had to blow up an underground cavern that was connected to some big lake,” the Matriarch said, now directing her glare at the Doctor. The Doctor stopped playing with his sonic and stared at the Matriarch, looking about ready commence one of his rambling lectures on being the highest authority in the field and making the hard decisions about what needed to be done.

Sarah Jane could see the oncoming confrontation was not far off. “Yes, well I think we can all agree that certain actions were unfortunately necessary and we all have to live with the repercussions of those actions. We all have to stay focused on our mission. Now, while you all freshen up, Mr. Jones and I will assemble a folios regarding H.C. Clements for your debriefing,” Sarah Jane announced in an attempt to focus the team on the mission and effectively dismissing them.

The group murmured their displeasure, especially when the realized they were sharing rooms with one another. The Doctor was with Roranicus, The Captain with the Tin Dog, Amy with Donna and the Healer with Bad Wolf. As they milled outside their rooms, the Doctor pulled Bad Wolf aside. “Do you trust me?” he whispered to her and waggled his eyebrows.

“Give me a mo,” she whispered back, grinning broadly at him and practically bouncing up and down. She grabbed the Healer and pulled her back into their room.

The Healer stared at her. “Something wrong?”

“Nope, just wanted to pick up my things and let you know I have to…sort of run out for a bit,” she explained hesitantly.

The Healer sighed and shook her head. “This is a booty run isn’t it?”

Bad Wolf tugged at her bag. “What makes you say that?” she asked as hefted the strap over her shoulder.

“I didn’t miss the way the Doctor’s been looking at you or how he pulled you aside out there and now you’re running off. You sure about this? I don’t want you to get hurt.” the Healer asked, looking at Bad Wolf worriedly and remembering other times Bad Wolf and run head on and heart first off with someone.

Bad Wolf looked up at her, a glint in her eyes. “Never been more sure ‘bout anything as I am this.”

The Healer sighed. “All right, just try and keep out of trouble and be back here before debriefing. I won’t lie if they ask where you are.”

Bad Wolf hugged her. “Thanks, Healer. I won’t forget this.”

While Bad Wolf was talking to the Healer, The Doctor had quickly grabbed his things and was about to go knock on her door when Roranicus and the Captain stopped him.

“What are you lot still doing out here? Why aren’t you cleaning up like everyone else?” The Doctor asked nervously glancing at the door to Bad Wolf‘s room.

“Don’t play that game with us, Doc,” The Captain said smirking. “Been around you long enough to know when something’s up. Where are you off to?”

“Off to? Me? I don’t know what you’re talking about?” the Doctor answered innocently.

Roranicus looked pointedly at the bundle of clothes in his arms. “You’re goin’ off with Bad Wolf, aren’t you?”

The Captain grinned broadly as the Doctor shifted uncomfortably, not used to having to answer to anyone for his actions. “That’s none of your concern,” the Doctor finally answered.

“Oh I don’t know, Doctor. Roranicus here is your roomie. That sort of entitles him to a little info. I mean what if the Director comes looking for you?” the Captain said.

“Well that explains Roranicus but not you. Why is it your concern?” the Doctor snipped.

“Well, I am your second in command and if you’re gonna make some secret slap and tickle run, I just need to know. After all, if an emergency comes up, I’m responsible,” the Captain said with an almost infectious grin on his face.

The Doctor glared. “Slap and tickle? Really Captain? Is that the best you’ve got?”

Roranicus stepped in between them. “Look, what you do is your business. But, just so we’re clear, you’re not gonna be back until the debriefing, right?” Roranicus asked.

“You too?” the Captain asked starting to laugh. “Why is it everyone’s gettin’ some except me. This is so wrong.”

The Doctor and Roranicus turned to him simultaneously and with almost the same looks on their faces. “I’m not going to dignify that with a response,” the Doctor said disdainfully and sniffed.

“Maybe Donna will want some company?” Roranicus suggested, trying not to smile.

“Or the Healer? Or both?” The Captain said, his mind racing with possibilities.

“I don’t think the Tin Dog would like that.” Before they could say more, Bad Wolf stepped out and stared at the Captain and Roranicus.

“Uh, Hi,” she said slowly.

“They were just leaving sort of like we are,” the Doctor announced, grabbed her hand and began tugging her down the hall. The Captain turned to make a snarky remark to Roranicus only to find him hovering around Pond and Donna’s door which opened as if Pond was expecting him. He then watched the two of them dash back to Roranicus’ room.

The Captain sighed and went back to find out what the Tin Dog had planned. He also wondered if maybe Donna would like to meet him in the bar for a drink. Somehow he thought she would make a fun drinking partner and dominate at karaoke come to think of it.

***************

While the team members played musical rooms, a slim blonde haired villain in a posh Gucci suit was standing in a tower looking out over London. It wouldn’t be long now. Soon he would have the Blue Box with all the power that came with it and he would have the pleasure of making the Doctor squirm and take everything he loved away from him. He was so looking forward to seeing the devastated look on the Doctor’s face. He inhaled deeply enjoying the Italian cigarette blowing the smoke out against the window and smiling as he thought about how this city would be his to do with as he pleased. All his, including every disgusting city dweller who would do his bidding, work in his factories and serve him as their lord and master.

***************

While Roranicus and Pond rendezvoused in his room, the Healer and the Tin Dog prepared for the mission. Although, their minds may have wandered toward each other more than once and how they had worked so well together in the Forest of Cheem. The Captain and Donna had retreated to the hotel bar to blow off some steam.

“So Donna, whadda you think of the Doctor and BW?” The Captain asked, after sipping his dirty martini.

Donna huffed. “I don’t know what she sees in that little skinny strip of nothin.”

The Captain smiled and swirled his drink. “Oh I dunno, he’s got that charming geek thing goin’ on. Lots of women like that. Guess he’s just not your type.”

Donna winced in distaste. “Certainly not! I like my men with a bit more to ‘em. He’s smart, I’ll give ‘im that. But, if he hurts her, all the brains in the world won’t save him. He’ll be dealin’ with me and the rest of our team.”

“Thought we were all on the same side now,” the Captain pointed out.

Donna turned to him. “Yeah, s’pose we are but all bets are off if he hurts her. BW’s been through enough. She deserves better.”

“Yeah, I hear that. So has the Doc. He’s had his heart broken a few times.”

“What about you? What’s your story?” Donna asked.

“Me? Oh I’m just a bloke lookin to share a little lovin! Why, wanna try a little Captain love?” the Captain asked with a wink.

Donna rolled her eyes. “Oh please! All that charm may pull the wool over everyone else’s eyes but not mine. You may be Mr. Flirtatious and Fancy Free and pretend not to care but you do. I can see it your eyes. So go on, spill.”

The Captain stared at his drink. “Nothin’ to tell really. I’m not so different than anyone else. Lost my parents and brother in a war. Grew up tough, joined the military and became a star. Great career and all that.”

“You’re not in the military now. Somethin’ must have changed,” Donna continued.

The Captain looked at her. “You don’t give up do ya?”

Donna smiled and sipped her chardonnay. “It’s my job to know things. Especially, about the people on my team. We’re trusting you with our lives. Think that gives me the right to check you out.”

“Honey, you can check me out all you want,” The Captain said. Before Donna could respond with a snappy retort, Ianto walked up at the other end of the bar. The Captain’s face fell a bit.

Donna looked at him and felt some sympathy for the brazen Captain. The pain he felt over his role in Ianto’s loss was evident on his face. That alone scored points with Donna. The truth was, when they were on a mission, they bore the responsibility to assure the safety of the population as well as achieve the mission objective. Donna had met too many agents who could care a less about the human factor so it was good to know that he cared.

“You can’t force it,” Donna eventually said.

The Captain looked over at her, pain and sorrow reflected in his deep blue eyes. “I know. I just…wish I could talk to him.”

Donna looked over to see Ianto staring at her, his face passive and not revealing anything. Donna nodded at him and he walked over with hesitation. “Donna, Captain,” he acknowledged, holding a glass of red wine in his hand.

“Ianto,” the Captain acknowledged, staring at him almost longingly.

“Well don’t just stand there. Sit and spill about what’s up with this whole merger thing,” Donna ordered.

Ianto took a seat at the bar next to Donna. “You know I can’t say much. The Matriarch would have my hide.”

“Yeah, but you can still clue us in a bit. The Matriarch and Director have always been at opposite ends. What changed?”

Ianto smiled slightly. “It was in everyone’s interest to work together. I believe the Director and the Matriarch were quite clear regarding the risks involved with Archangel. It only made sense to combine forces.”

“Don’t give me that! There’s more to it. You and Sarah Jane seemed quite chummy and so did the Director and Matriarch. There’s something’ goin’ on with those two,” Donna asserted.

“No comment,” Ianto answered and sipped his wine.

The Captain remained unusually quiet. Finally, he cleared his throat. “Ianto, I know you and I…” the Captain started to say.

Ianto interrupted him. “I need to get back upstairs.” He picked up is glass and turned to leave but Donna grabbed his arm.

“Oh no you don’t!” she said firmly. “We all have to work together. Remember? That means you two have to hash out this thing between you. Now sit and listen.” She then turned to the Captain. “And, you talk and I don’t mean rubbish. I mean honest from the heart talk to him.”

From that point on, Donna was an observer as the Captain let loose with all the pain and guilt he’d been holding inside himself. It was more than just an apology. The Captain expressed his genuine feelings for both Ianto and his beloved Lisa who, much to the shock of Donna, had been far more than friends with the Captain. Donna began to understand that this wasn’t the loss of a friend or friends. It was a loss of lovers and an intimate relationship. By the time he was finished, the Captain had shed many tears. Ianto himself had a few tears pooled in his eyes. Although Ianto might not be ready to dive back into such a relationship with the Captain, he was starting to turn the corner of forgiveness. It was a huge step.

Donna smiled as she felt the two men breath a sigh of relief at releasing this stress between them. This was one step closer at forming a more cohesive team which would keep them all safe. After another round of drinks and a few shared appetizers, it was time to return to the penthouse and their debriefing. The three of them rode the elevator up together in a more relaxed silence.

***************

Bad Wolf snuggled up close to the Doctor basking in the afterglow of their intimate afternoon together. She had never felt so sated, relaxed and at ease with anyone. The Doctor leaned over and nuzzled her neck and nibbled on her earlobe as she gazed out the window to see all of Paris spread out before her. Only the Doctor would have a secret hideout at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Bad Wolf smiled as she remembered how he had run with her across Paris, babbling on about little known historic facts until they ended up at the Eiffel Tower. They had stopped briefly at the restaurant on an upper floor of the tower, Les Jules Verne. The Doctor was good friends with the Chef who very kindly provided them with a sumptuous meal. They took an elevator up to the upper observation deck and then the stairs up to a small secret room furnished simply with a few essentials. What followed was a romantic meal and the consummation of all the sexual tension that had been driving them both mad.

“S’pose we should be getting back,” Bad Wolf finally said, regretting the end to this romantic interlude.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” the Doctor acknowledged regretfully. He didn’t want this afternoon with her to end. He was beyond enamored with her. He loved her. It was as simple as that. Yet, the two of them could never be simple. They had a mission to complete. He looked at her and smiled. After they were done with this, he was taking her away someplace where they could just be them. Not agents on a mission answering to the Director or Matriarch, just the Doctor and BW out on their own adventure exploring wherever the wind blew them.

They dressed slowly teasing each other about his mole, of which he was most proud, and her birth mark which he insisted on tracing with this tongue one more time. Of course, this delayed them a bit. They arrived at the penthouse after everyone else giggling about a street vendor who turned out to be one of the Vinvocci family who were formerly a crime syndicate family until the Gallifreyans interceded in their drug ring. The vendor took one look at the Doctor and ran off screaming. He had confided in Bad Wolf that while he, his team and the Italian police stormed the Vinvocci’s various drug distribution centers, he may have arranged for crates of bats to be sent to all their warehouses and the family palazzo. Bad Wolf had giggled at that thought of bats flying amok and terrifying their criminal henchman.

The Director and the Matriarch were not amused. After a quick terse meeting where all were told in no uncertain terms to get down to business and stay focused, they given their dossiers about H.C. Clements. Sarah Jane had already confirmed that several mysterious shipments had been received at their headquarters recently. The team would proceed immediately and infiltrate the company.

As they were filing out, the Director called Bad Wolf and the Doctor aside. “You were late,” he said without pretense.

The Matriarch walked up with here arms crossed and glared at them. “We’re not havin’ any more of this. You two are the leaders and need to set an example. Don’t think we don’t know what you two were up to.”

The Director stared hard at both of them. “If you had been here instead of off doing God knows what, you might have been aware of the musical rooms that were being played by the rest of your team. Instead of resting and recharging there was nothing but fooling around happening. We don’t have time for this. You both know that.”

The Doctor’s eyes flashed in anger. “Don’t. Just don’t. You tasked us with a job and we will get it done. What we do in our personal time and how we “recharge,” as you put it, is our business. Everyone on this team is a consummate professional. You know that.”

The Matriarch turned knowing eyes to Bad Wolf. “And you? Since when did you start runnin’ off like this. You’re a team leader not some carefree girl who can run off on a whim. Did you think about me and your team while you were off doin this clandestine shaggin’ thing with this one?”

Bad Wolf gripped the Doctor’s hand. “That’s not fair. I’ve always been there for you and team. Any time you or any of the team needed anything I was the one who saw to it. When you needed an errand, there was me. When the Healer and Donna had family business and needed someone there, there was me. If Pond got arrested or needed help with anything, I was there. I’ve dedicated all of myself to this team and never asked for anything personal. It’s not right you accusing’ me of bein’ a bad leader ‘cos I spent a few hours in Paris relaxin’ with the Doctor. We’d have been here sooner if we hadn’t run into a spot of trouble on the way,” Bad Wolf answered, quite upset at being accused of dereliction of duty much less for tossing her team aside for a bit of shagging.

“The point is, we need you both focused. Just promise us this… whatever you have happening won’t interfere.” the Director demanded.

The Doctor stared daggers at the Director. “We’re not going to dignify that with a response. BW and I will get the job done just like we always do. Enough said.” They both turned and walked tersely from the room.

The Director sighed and rubbed his face. “Well, that could have gone better.” He walked over to the Matriarch who was staring at the door.

“I’ve lost her,” she said and smiled slightly. “Always knew this day would come. Never thought it would be to someone like ‘im though.”

The Director put a hand on her arm. “Oh I don’t think you’ve lost her and you may have gained him and a lot more,” he said smiling at her. Sarah Jane and Ianto watched the whole confrontation unfold from across the room.

“Director, Matriarch, there’s something you should know….” Sarah Jane said, worry lacing her voice.

***************

H.C. Clements’ headquarters was a typical nondescript building filled with lots of glass, chrome, nondescript sculptures, paintings and typical corporate furnishings. The main entrance was a wide area tiled in gray marble with an impressive black and glass art deco desk at which a receptionist sat directing people to the appropriate department. Donna and Pond, dressed in conservative navy suits marched in and announced they were from an efficiency consulting firm there to survey and make recommendations. They were provided security badges and sent to the elevators to take them up to the administrative level.

They stopped off in the ladies room and scanned the badges and transmitted the images to the Tin Dog in a van outside so he could forge some copies for the rest of the team.

The Captain and Roranicus infiltrated as maintenance men while Bad Wolf and the Doctor broke into the building through an emergency exit which the Doctor handily disarmed. He and Bad Wolf made their way through the building acting like they owned the place, their forged identification tacked onto their clothing. The Healer kept track of everyone’s progress while the Tin Dog did his best to bypass security cameras.

Donna and Pond left the lavatory and on their way to the elevators, clicked their pens which set off the fire alarms. In the fray of evacuating the building, they made their way toward the basement and the loading dock where they could have access to the shipping office. Roranicus and the Captain had already made their way down to the lower level in the ruse of cleaning and maintenance work. Bad Wolf and the Doctor separated so they could cover more ground and gain access to company’s mainframe.

The Doctor slipped into a posh executive suite and was grinning at the computer. “Oh this is too easy!” he exclaimed, just as a feminine voice cleared her throat. He looked up and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Hello, Doctor,: the Madame purred. “It’s been a long time, my angel.”

“Reinette,” the Doctor acknowledged, a bit uncomfortable with facing Reinette. She was still as lovely and poised as ever, her golden hair immaculately coiffed and she dressed in an expensive pink and beige silk suit tailored especially for her. She casually sauntered over, her stilettos making no sound on the plush carpet.

“Is there something I can help you with or is this a purely social visit?” she asked as she leaned proactively over the side of the desk, her blue eyes almost caressing him. He looked at her and smiled, thinking “And she’s just as deadly as ever as well.”

“Oh no, I’ve got all I need,” he responded.

“Do you now? Hmmm, you always were efficient. Now then, my angel, are you going to tell me why you’ve paid me a visit or do I have to use…more persuasive means?”

“Oh Reinette, you haven’t changed a bit,” he answered in a friendly but cautious manner. Reinette was a very skilled seductress and was quite proficient at achieving whatever she set her mind to. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see you involved in all of this. Playing both sides is your game. So how much is Archangel paying you?”

She smiled and walked behind him, looking him up and down. “And what makes you think I work for Archangel? Are we not in the offices of H.C. Clements? My own office, if you haven’t already ascertained that. One which you have, shall we say, entered uninvited.”

“Your offices? Huh, suppose this is posh enough to be your style, although, I never took you for the corporate office type. So tell me, why aren’t you calling security again?” he asked, tugging his ear nervously as she covered his hand with hers.

“Security is so de-classe. What do I need them for. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have my own hand cuffs,” she said and pulled a set of handcuffs from a desk drawer, dangling them on one of her manicured fingers. “Unless handcuffs bore you now?” she asked.

He flustered a bit. “Uh, nooooo. I really don’t do that,” he babbled. “Let’s not beat around the bush, Reinette. Why don’t you just tell me what you’re up to?”

“I’d much rather remind you what I’m capable of. It’s been far too long,” she said and grabbed him by the tie into a snog, pushing him onto a chair and straddling him. Her aggressive move startled him and for a moment he just sat there while she snogged him into submission.

There was an audible gasp from the open doorway as Bad Wolf stood there, heart breaking as she watched the Madame once again take something precious from her.

 

 

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad Wolf walked in on the Doctor being snogged by The Madame. This chapter - we learn why BW has issues with the Madame and what happened to the Blue Box

Bad Wolf had heard voices and ran down the hall to check on the Doctor. Soon, it became clear who that voice belonged to which immediately put Bad Wolf on alert. Her last encounter with the Madame had not gone well. They were working together in Monte Carlo on a case involving stolen nanobots. The Madame was an independent contractor who came highly recommended and the Powells had retained her to assist them as she had inside information on the Silurians who were dealing in stolen tech. The Madame was quite friendly, charming and talented at talking or flirting her way into almost anywhere.

Bad Wolf had been immediately taken in by her charms. Reinette, as she asked Bad Wolf to call her, had taken Bad Wolf shopping so she would fit in with the elite crowd at this resort. The shopping trip had been remarkably fun for both Bad Wolf and Reinette. They had reminisced about various cases and found they had several cases in common. That evening, the two of them dressed elegantly had swept through the casino and had the Silurians eating out of their hands. They had shared the information and left Monte Carlo firm friends.

It wasn’t until several cases later that Reinette used Bad Wolf’s friendship for her own gain. They were working together in Moscow attempting to acquire a deadly piece of technology, a disintegrator pistol. They had infiltrated the Family of Blood, a Russian mafia family. They had worked their way into the family’s arsenal and found the disintegrator pistol. Just as they were leaving, Reinette turned on Bad Wolf, locking her in the weapons hold while she left with the pistol. She had smiled sweetly at Rose. “Sorry, Ma Petite, it’s just business.”

“Business! We were partners! And you’re what, swanning off with the disintegrator pistol leaving me to take the fall with the family. That’s not just business. It’s betrayal of trust! You used my friendship and my skills to steal this thing,” Bad Wolf had shouted angrily

Reinette tutted and almost cooed at Bad Wolf. “Ah my dear Bad Wolf, you are mistaken. I am an independent contractor not part of your team. I have to keep my interests in mind which sadly, do not coincide with yours this time. Maybe next time, Ma Petite.”

“You can’t just leave me here like this! They’ll kill me!”

“Oh, I doubt that. You are far too clever for that to happen. Besides, I think the son likes you. I’m sure you’ll use that to your advantage just like we did in Monte Carlo.”

“No, just like you did in Monte Carlo!” Bad Wolf bitterly spit out.

Shouting sounded upstairs. “Ah that is my cue to exit. Au revoir, Ma Petite. Until we meet again.” With that, Reinette left her.

The family of course found her and immediately began to interrogate her and this interrogation was not pleasant. By the time the Healer and her team had convinced the Russian authorities to intervene, Bad Wolf had been beaten to semi consciousness. Although some things were blurry from that mission, one thing had been clear. Reinette was not to be trusted and had left her partner behind at the hands of ruthless criminals to further her own agenda.

All of this flitted through Bad Wolf’s mind as she watched the man she had fallen in love with snog someone she despised. After an interminable minute of observing Reinette, with her hands grasping at his hair, moaning into his mouth, she couldn’t stand it any more. She pushed the heartbreak and heat aside and instead clung to the anger.

“Scuse me!” Bad Wolf said bitterly.

The Doctor jumped up out of the chair pushing Reinette who stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her. “BW!” he said, his voice an octave higher and his eyes wide. He knew he was in deep trouble. Bad Wolf was staring at him, her eyes filled with hurt and anger. Then, he realized he still had his hands on Reinette’s arms. He abruptly shoved her away.

“Interruptin’ your investigatin’ am I?” Bad Wolf snarked at him.

“Ma Petite, what a pleasant surprise to see you again. You’re looking lovely,” Reinette purred as she stood next to the Doctor who was looking rumpled and very uneasy. Nothing scared a man like having your ex-lover and present lover in the same room with you unless, of course, said present lover found you snogging the ex-lover. Oh yes, and apparently the two women knew each other which he had a feeling was making everything that much worse.

“Oh so you two know each other then?” he babbled. “Then I don’t need to make introductions. Uh this is Reinette’s office. Fancy that! Me here to investigate and I ended up in Reinette’s office. Why the probability of that must be….”

“Doctor!” Bad Wolf shouted interrupting him. “I get it. You accidentally ended up in her office like I suppose you accidentally ended up snoggin’ her,” Rose said sarcastically.

“Yes!” he exclaimed fidgeting. “That’s it exactly. Purely an accident, Unequivocally an accident.”

Bad Wolf narrowed her eyes at him and then turned to Reinette. “So you’re in the thick of this Blue Box case then. Why am I not surprised.”

Reinette stared at Bad Wolf and couldn’t help but see jealousy practically rolling off her old friend. She quickly surmised from Bad Wolf’s anger and the Doctor’s fidgeting that the Doctor and Bad Wolf were “dancing” and just recently to if she was any judge.

“The Blue Box?” Reinette asked feigning surprise.

“Don’t play stupid, Reinette. It doesn’t suit you. I suppose it should make sense you would’ve gotten your claws in this. I imagine Archangel offered you a fortune to get it for them. I s’pose the fact that they’ll use the Blue Box to terrorize the world doesn’t mean as much as how much they’re payin’ you,” Bad Wolf snipped. The Doctor who was still standing next to Reinette groaned internally. This was very very bad and BW’s attitude was not helping. Reinette never responded well to accusations.

“Don’t be bitter, BW. Just because I got there first,” Reinette said and then shot a sensual look at the Doctor. BW looked between them and realized what she was suggesting. Inside, her heart was shattering and she realized how much she didn’t know about the Doctor. Outwardly, her demeanor hardened. She shoved BW the woman aside and BW the agent took charge.

“Enough of snogging and games. Where is it Reinette?” Bad Wolf demanded.

The Doctor nervously tugged at his hair as he watched Bad Wolf lay into Reinette. He really didn’t know what the history was between these two but he had to find out and quickly. Bad Wolf berating the Madam would get them know where. He needed to end this confrontation so they could bet back on with the case. “It’s been shipped to London. We need to leave now if we’re going to catch up to it, BW,” the Doctor announced.

Bad Wolf stared at Reinette. “Fine, you go get everyone and I’ll deal with her.” All Bad Wolf could think was if the Doctor was involved with Reinette then he was compromised. How could she possibly trust him, especially after the whole snogging thing.

“Oh I don’t think so, BW. You’re letting your emotions interfere with your judgment,” the Doctor responded staring at Bad Wolf and knowing if he left these two alone it would be would be catastrophic with emphasis on the cat.

Bad Wolf turned on him. “I don’t think you should be lecturin’ me on emotions considerin’ what you and ‘er were just doin,” Bad Wolf retorted. Reinette smirked as she watched them bicker. She was finding this rather entertaining.

The Doctor was getting irritated at BW for what he felt was petty jealousy. As if he would be compromised by Reinette! This wasn’t about him. It was about BW’s hostility and he was putting an end to it. “No. You’re emotional and jumping to conclusions. You need to walk away and I’ll handle Reinette.”

“Oh yeah, I should walk away so you can handle the little traitor. I mean after all what better way to deal with an agent of Archangel that a snog and a pat on the arse!” Bad Wolf said sarcastically and with anger lacing her voice.

That was it for the Doctor. He grabbed Reinette by the arm and twisted it behind her back and pressed his sonic to her temple until she collapsed unconscious. “We’re done here,” he announced and walked out of the room without checking to see if Bad Wolf was following. No one accused him pandering to Archangel. He convinced himself they both needed to calm down and talk about this later. Right now, he was too angry and disappointed in what he felt was a lack of professionalism on BW’s part.

Bad Wolf stared down at Reinette and realized maybe she should be thanking her for showing her what a git the Doctor could be. She turned and whipped out her phone and messaged the team she was heading back to their mobile command. As she stormed through the building she thought about what she’d seen and how the Doctor had reacted. She was disappointed in him and angry at how he treated her. “How dare he lecture her on how she did her job,” she mentally fumed. “As if he could do no wrong. Well, he’s just as flawed as any other bloke when it comes to a pretty face and a little flirting. How professional is that!” She continued her pace, making no attempt to be quiet and maybe even slammed a few doors on her way out.

Donna and Pond were down in the shipping office and had just downloaded the transport order for the Blue Box when they received Bad Wolf’s message. “Why’s she heading back to command now?” Donna asked.

The Captain peeked his head in the door. “You two about ready? The fire alarms are off and building security is starting to sweep the building. The Doc says he’s got intel on where the box is going.”

“Anything else?” Pond asked, curious about why the Doctor and BW had split up. Judging by how they were acting earlier, she was sure they would stick to each other like glue.

The Captain hesitated. “They ran into the Madame upstairs. Apparently, she acted as a liaison for Archangel.” The Captain did not want to tell Donna or Pond that the Doctor was in a dark mood and had been very curt when discussing Bad Wolf’s whereabouts. He knew it took a lot for the Doctor to be in this kind of bad mood.

“Bloody Hell,” Donna muttered. “No wonder Bad Wolf’s in a mood.” Donna knew this was bad and she needed to get to her friend before Bad Wolf did something reckless.

Rory ran up. “We need to leave now. The Doctor can’t hold them off for much longer.”

The team raced out through the shipping dock level and were met by the van driven by Bad Wolf. The Tin Dog opened the doors and shouted for them to get in. Very little was said as they sped off toward the airport to try and intercept the Blue Box. In fact, the team was shooting furtive glances from Bad Wolf to the Doctor who sat with his jaw clenched.

Bad Wolf seemed oblivious to her passengers’ tension and drove like a mad woman weaving in and out of the traffic and seemed to be taking her anger out on anyone on the highway who was in her way. Finally, the Doctor shouted, “Getting us killed or in an accident won’t help us get to the Blue Box!” Bad Wolf ignored him.

The Healer was sitting in front next to Bad Wolf. “You all right?” she asked quietly, looking at her friend, concerned at the expression on her face.

Bad Wolf kept her eyes on the road. “I’ll be fine after this mission is over,” Bad Wolf tersely replied.

The Healer stared hard at her sensing something terribly wrong and then turned to look back at the Doctor who also appeared to be in a foul mood. The Healer really hated being right. She knew this relationship with the Doctor would go pear shaped. She just didn’t expect for it to happen this soon.

As soon as they screeched to a stop, the Doctor was out the door running followed by the Captain, Tin Dog, Roranicus and Pond. The Healer looked at Bad Wolf. “Go on, I’ll report in to the Matriarch and the Director,” Bad Wolf told her, staring straight out the windshield. The Healer nodded and hopped out of the van to follow the others.

Donna sat silently in back staring at Bad Wolf until finally she couldn’t take it any longer. “All right, spill,” Donna ordered with her arms crossed.

“Nothin’ to spill. Just filin’ a report,” Bad Wolf answered as she violently punched in her report on her mobile.

“Don’t give me that! Why aren’t you out there with them? You live for this stuff.” Donna reminded her.

Bad Wolf finished her message and then turned to Donna. “Yeah, well maybe I’ve had enough. Maybe it’s time for a break. It’s not like anyone needs me. You have the Doctor now.”

Donna leaned over and thumped Bad Wolf on the back of the head. “Ow! Why’d you do that?” Bad Wolf exclaimed rubbing her head.

“Cos you’re bein’ a twit. That’s why. Now what happened back at H.C. Clements that’s put you in such a piss poor mood? Was it the Madame? You‘re not lettin‘ that cow put you down are you?”

Bad Wolf looked down and then back at Donna, her eyes reflecting her pain and conflict. “I found her and the Doctor snoggin. He said he was investigatin’ but it didn’t look like that to me and the way she put it, they have a history.”

Donna was not happy to hear this. “Are you tellin’ me that a few hours after he was off knockin‘ knees with you, he was with that traitorous bint!” Donna said, her face flushed with anger.

Bad Wolf nodded her head. “I really mucked up, Donna. I never should have trusted him,” Bad Wolf revealed, trying not to cry.

“Don‘t say that. He had us all fooled into thinkin‘ he cared about you and wasn‘t out to score another notch on his belt,” Donna said, already planning on what she would do and say to the Doctor for hurting her friend like this. She looked at Bad Wolf. “You sure him and Reinette are a thing?”

“Oh they were a thing all right and from the looks of it, maybe still are. She almost bragged how he was hers first and he didn’t’ deny it. He just got stroppy with me when I wanted to push her into tellin’ us more about the Blue Box.”

Donna was quiet for a moment and then reached over and put her hand on Bad Wolf’s shoulder. “You can’t show him how much he’s hurt you. Remember, you’re a team leader and better than he is. Prove to him that he’s nothin’ to you. If he wants to waste his time with skinny little lyin’ tarts like Reinette than good riddance. You’re worth ten of her.”

Bad Wolf smiled at Donna. “Thanks, Donna.”

The Door slammed open and the Doctor, still in a dark and foul mood glared at both of them. “Why weren’t you there! This is a team effort and that meant the whole team,” the Doctor said in quiet anger, his eyes glaring accusingly at Bad Wolf.

Donna whipped around and narrowed her eyes at him. “Now see here you skinny little ego laden prat, it’s never a good idea to put all your assets out there. If something had happened, you would’ve had no back up.”

Bad Wolf looked down at her phone. “I was contacting the Matriarch and the Director to let them know our status in case the Blue Box was gone. They’ve already booked us a flight back to London. Ianto will meet us at the plane with everything so we don’t have to waste any time going back to the hotel or making arrangements.” She never looked at him just messaged Ianto that they would be on their way soon.

“Is that so,” the Doctor said in a quiet voice. “And you couldn’t delegate that task to someone else? That’s poor management BW. I expect more of you.”

“Oh shut it,” Donna snipped. “You’re just mad ‘cos you missed the Blue Box. Us bein’ out there wouldn’t have changed anything and we would’ve wasted more time makin’ travel arrangements.”

By this time, the remainder of the team was back and loading into the van. The Doctor sat stiff in the very back of the van, staring out the window. The Captain and Tin Dog sat next to him while Roranicus and Pond sat next to Donna. The Healer took point in front with Bad Wolf. It wasn’t long before messages were flying across mobiles so that everyone on the team knew that Bad Wolf and the Doctor were on the outs. Battle lines were being drawn as various team members took sides.

They boarded the private jet and Bad Wolf and her team sat in back forcing the Doctor’s team to take the front of the cabin. The Tin Dog looked pointedly at the Doctor.

“What?” the Doctor snapped.

“Never let the present Mrs. meet the Ex. Thought you were smarter than that,” the Tin Dog said with a glint in his eyes, enjoying the Doctor’s discomfort.

“That isn’t how it happened and as you might have guessed there is no Mrs,” the Doctor responded, resentful that this had become so public.

The Tin Dog was rather enjoying seeing the Doctor in the hot set. It didn’t happen often and was nice to see him taken down a peg or two. Well he was enjoying it until he looked over at the Healer and noticed that the growing warmth in her eyes was gone and he was on the receiving end of an icy glared. That’s when the fun at needling the Doctor evaporated and he started stewing over being punished for the Doctor’s actions.

The Captain also chanced a look over at the Powells who were whispering to one another with a few of them periodically glaring at the Gallifreyans. He looked back at the Doctor. “So, we back to two teams then. Don’t think the Director will like that.” The Doctor just snorted in response. The Captain grinned. “Well, since you’re out of the picture now that leaves Bad Wolf fair game. Maybe she just needs a little fun in her life,” the Captain suggested and looked back over at her with a grin on his face. The Doctor straightened and leaned over to the Captain threateningly.

“Don’t you even think about it. I’ll sort Bad Wolf. Stay out of it,” he said in an angry voice and a demeanor that verged on the Oncoming Storm.

Roranicus made one attempt to go back and speak to Pond only to meet the combined glares of the Powells and immediately retreated realizing that the Doctor’s actions had not only put him at odds with Bad Wolf but had categorically put all the Gallifreyans in the proverbial dog house with him. At that point Roranicus, texted the Doctor two words. “Fix it!” The Doctor was not amused.

Roranicus spent the rest of the flight texting Pond to try and convince her that he was not the enemy and even going so far as to sympathize with Bad Wolf. The Captain had leaned over his shoulder at one point and whispered, “traitor.” Roranicus just texted him a rather unpleasant obscenity. The Captain just grinned and stretched out thinking this was going to be a long trip.

As they were approaching London, Ianto entered the cabin and cleared his throat to get their attentions. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have confirmed that the Blue Box has reached London, was unloaded and bypassed customs. We have an agent on the ground following the transport.

“Who is it?” Donna asked.

“Jake Simmonds,” Ianto answered.

“Good, Jake won’t lose them,” Bad Wolf agreed. Jake was a freelancer who worked as a bartender at a local pub. He was good at getting information not to mention he was a crack shot. He had worked with the Preachers, an elite strike force team with MI5. After a particularly gruesome mission and losing half his team, he had retired to run his father’s pub.

“Do we have any idea where they’re headed?” the Captain asked, watching Bad Wolf with interest to see how much the whole Doctor/Reinette fiasco was affecting her. He couldn’t allow one team member’s emotions to get them all killed or wounded. If he felt she was compromised, he wouldn’t hesitate to do what was necessary to ground her.

“It could be anywhere, but we believe it may be Canary Wharf,” Ianto answered.

“Torchwood is at Canary Wharf,” Roranicus added, concern evident in his voice. He glanced over at Pond who was still ignoring him. Annoyed, he turned back to the Doctor and glared at him.

“Torchwood wouldn’t work with Archangel,” the Captain mused. “Ianto, any word on what Torchwood’s up to lately or if there could be a connection?”

A shadow passed in front of Ianto’s eyes. The Powells tensed. If Ianto was worried, it was bad. “Torchwood has gone silent,” he announced.

“Silent?” the Healer asked. “No, they never go silent. There’s always something up, especially at Torchwood One.”

“Agreed.” Jack nodded his head and looked to Ianto. “It’s not like Yvonne Hartman to be so quiet. Don’t get me wrong, she has her secrets, but she’s not above bragging about some new Torchwood toy to the boys at UNIT. Something’s not right.”

“Could Archangel have taken over Torchwood One?” Bad Wolf asked, worry furrowing her brow.

The Healer pulled out her ipad and began tapping away at it and the Tin Dog joined her. She looked up at Ianto. “I’m gonna tap into video surveillance in that area and take a look. The Tin Dog pulled out his mobile. “I’ll check the phone lines and the utility records and see if anything is off.”

“I know one of the baristas at the coffee shop across the street. I’ll ring her up and see if she’s noticed strange,” Pond announced.

“I’ll check out the H.C. Clements shipping records and see if anything else was delivered to Canary Wharf,” Donna announced and pulled out her ipad. She looked over at the Doctor who was playing his sonic, obviously deep in thought. “You, skinny boy!” she called out to him. The Doctor looked up annoyed at being disturbed. Donna did not care if he was annoyed. “You’re gonna help me,” she said and walked over and sat next to him. The Doctor shifted uncomfortably.

Bad Wolf watched Donna with surprise and then grimaced as she contemplated what her team would do to protect her. She hoped and prayed Donna would stay out of it and began messaging the Matriarch with the latest information.

The Doctor flinched away from Donna, sure that he was about to endure some kind of lecture from the Ginger General. Donna smiled as she watched this but said nothing. She was going to let him stew for a bit. Donna pulled up several records and pointed things out to him but before they could make too much progress, the plane was preparing for landing in London and she had to shut down and return to her seat. Before she left, she couldn’t resist leaning over to him and saying, “Don’t think we’re not gonna have talk.” She was pleased with the nervous look in his eyes.

After they landed, they filed into two black SUVs. Donna chose to climb into the back of one with the Doctor while the Tin Dog drove and Roranicus took the front seat. The Captain climbed in next to Bad Wolf, much to the Doctor’s displeasure. The Healer drove, Pond sat in front, shooting worried looks back at Bad Wolf and the Captain.

Once the car was moving, the Captain turned to Bad Wolf. “Look I don’t know what’s up with you and the Doc although I can make a pretty good guess.”

“Stop,” Bad Wolf ordered and stared hard at him. “I’m not doin’ this with you. We need to focus on the mission not what a cheatin’ git the Doctor is or how he obviously likes betraying slags like the Madame,” Rose said, staring out a window.

“Now, ya see, that’s just it,” Jack replied. “You’re head isn’t in the game and that’s not just dangerous for you. You're emotional and that endangers all of us and I can’t allow that.”

The Healer gripped the steering wheel tight, her anger at the Captain just beneath the surface. Trusting Bad Wolf to handle this, she bit her lip. Pond was not so quiet.

“You arrogant, arsehole! You think this is just about jealousy!” Pond said outraged.

“Pond, don’t!” Bad Wolf warned. “Let it go.”

“I will not let it go!” Pond retorted. “You’re the victim here. These morons are acting like your some petty jealous young girl. It never occurred to them that there’s more to it and you might actually have a reason for being upset at seeing that lying little tart. If it’d been Roranicus off snogging someone who had swanned off to leave me to be tortured for days on end…”

“Pond!” Bad Wolf shouted but Pond continued on.

“…after spending the afternoon shagging me, I’d have done more than BW. I’d have slapped him into next week!”

The Captain stared at Pond, a little surprised by this information. He then turned to Bad Wolf who refused to look at him. It was obvious by her body language that she was embarrassed by what Pond had revealed. This added a whole new emotional layer. Now he could see how tightly she was hanging on.

“BW, I’m sorry. I know what it’s like…”

“No!” she interrupted. “You don’t and I’m not discussin’ this with you. Let it rest, Captain. We all need to stay focused on the mission. We have a job to do and we need to do it and leave our personal dirty laundry somewhere else.”

He sat back concerned as he stared at her. He had always heard she was tough but now he was beginning to understand how and why. Of course, tough or not, he was worried about her. He had dealt with his own demons on several missions and knew what it was like to pour yourself into the job to avoid feeling anything. Somehow, he didn’t think the Doctor knew any of this or there would be a whole different reason for him to be angry.

While the Captain confronted Bad Wolf, Donna didn’t waste any time to lay into the Doctor.

She grabbed him by the tie and yanked him hard away from the window that he seemed intent on staring out.

“Now see here you skinny strip of nothin!” she began.

“You lay off of BW right now. You hurt her in more ways than you can well imagine. Of all the tarts to play around with you had to choose the Madame.”

The Doctor yanked his tie out of her grasp and glared at her. “This is between me and BW. End of discussion.”

“Not hardly! This involves everyone on this team and especially those of us who care about BW.”

“I care about BW!” he retorted angrily “More than you know.”

“Yeah, well you got a funny way of showin’ it and don’t go usin’ excuses about tryin’ to persuade Reinette usin’ some shaggin’ whammy on her. We all know how Reinette works. This isn’t the first time we’ve crossed paths. She was BW’s partner on several missions until she turned on her.”

The Doctor stared at Donna for a long time before speaking. “BW and Reinette were partners,” he said softly, absorbing this information and thinking about how really complicated everything had just become.

“That’s right. She betrayed Bad Wolf on a mission in Moscow and left her to be tortured by the Family of Blood. I’m sure you know who they are and what they can do. We barely got her out in time while your girlfriend took a first class flight out of town with the tech we were assigned to retrieve,” Donna told him, anger lacing her voice.

The Doctor swallowed hard and looked toward the front of the car where his eyes met Roranicus who quickly turned around. He looked back at Donna who was still quite livid with him.

“You thought this was just about you didn’t you,” she said and shook her head. “You don’t deserve her. You betrayed her to the person who left her to die. You have no idea how long it took her to learn to trust anyone. She let you in and you just as well as slapped her.”

“I didn’t know about her and Reinette and for the record I didn’t snog Reinette. She snogged me,” he said quietly and absorbing all the information Donna had just supplied him.

Donna rolled her eyes “And that makes it so much better,” she said sarcastically. “You should’ve let BW handle her instead of protecting Reinette. It made you look like you chose the cow over BW. What did you think BW was going to do anyway?”

The Doctor’s head whipped back to look at Donna. “You weren’t there,” he said in quiet anger. “BW was out of control and not thinking rationally. She would have jeopardized the mission to…”

“You stop right there,” Donna interrupted and poked him in the chest. “BW might have it in for the Madame but she would never put her team at risk. All you saw was a jealous woman, not BW. Just goes to show how little you know her. Not that it matters any more. She’s already decided you’re not trustworthy and I can’t blame her. She’ll never work with you again.”

The Doctor sat there in angry contemplation of everything Donna had said. Although he resented being treated this way, part of his anger was self directed. He questioned his own reactions as much as he did BW’s. Part of him just wanted to run from the whole mess. He didn’t typically do domestic and didn’t like someone shoving failed domestics in his face. Right now, all he wanted to do was grab BW and talk through this without nosy team members around. Donna was wrong. He may not know the details of her past, but he did know BW better than anyone. Before he could express this thought, the cars pulled up around the corner from Torchwood One.

Bad Wolf and her group were already out of their car and talking with Jake. The Doctor walked up followed by Donna, Roranicus and the Tin Dog. It turned out their worst fears were true. Archangel had indeed taken over Torchwood One. It had been subtle and swift with no one the wiser. Pond’s barista contact confirmed that there indeed had been an influx of strangers who came and went from the building and video cameras in the area had been mysteriously malfunctioning for days. Jake confirmed that a delivery truck had arrived minutes before them and the building appeared to be in lockdown.

The Doctor looked over at the building. Breaking into Torchwood One would be difficult on a good day but with Archangel there, it was substantially more dangerous. The Tin Dog walked over to him. “What you think, Boss?”

The Doctor rubbed his face and exhaled slowly. “No matter what way we do this, they’re gonna know so I’m not sure it matters which way we get in.”

Pond heard him and walked over. “They already know we’re here. The camera across the street has been angled over facing us since we arrived.” The Doctor looked at her and nodded his head.

Bad Wolf and the rest of the group walked over to them. “Jake’s confirmed it. Archangel is in there and so is the Blue Box. We have a job to do and it’s time to do it. No more playin’ chase the Blue Box. I’m walkin’ in the front door.”

“Oh no you’re not!” the Doctor snapped, extremely unhappy with her putting herself in the direct line of fire.

“Yeah, I am,” Bad Wolf replied, a hint of steel in her voice. I’ll draw the focus on me and the rest of you can try and bypass their security. A multiple assault strategy is the best chance at success.”

“It’s suicide,” the Captain told her, now even more concerned about her emotional state.

Bad Wolf faced him. “Maybe, maybe not. Someone needs to be the distraction and that’s gonna be me.”

“And me,” Pond affirmed. “I’m not letting you do this alone.” Bad Wolf nodded at her although sometimes she wished Pond wasn’t so stubborn and brave.

“Last time I checked, this was a co-leadership and I most certainly do not agree,” the Doctor announced and crossed his arms defensively.

Bad Wolf turned and stared hard at him. “Tough, I’m doin’ this. While they focus on Pond and me, you get the rest of the team in. We’ll keep them busy for as long as we can.

The Doctor clenched his jaw, strode forward, grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the group. “What has gotten into you?” he demanded. Bad Wolf yanked her arm from him.

“There’s nothin’ wrong with me. I’m just doin’ my job,” she answered.

“No, you’re not. You’re upset with me and acting reckless and I won’t have it,” he answered, staring intently at her.

“I don’t answer to you,” she said coldly and turned away. The Doctor grabbed her hard and she quite gracefully tossed him over her shoulder and down to the ground and walked away. The Doctor was so stunned it took him a minute to recover. The rest of the team stared with open mouths.

“Come along, Pond!” Bad Wolf ordered and the two of them marched into the Torchwood One Tower.

Little did they know at the top of the tower, the Master was watching them, chuckling at the expression on the Doctor’s face as he watched Bad Wolf walk away from him. The Master sipped his wine and hit a switch on his desk. “We have guests arriving. Do make the ladies feel welcome,” he instructed and focused the camera on Bad Wolf and Pond. “Welcome to Torchwood, ladies.”  


* * *


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter after this. I thought this would be the last but it just didn't quite work out. This was a tough one trying to work every character in and give them a voice. I know I haven't given every character as much of a voice as I would have liked but that is the problem working with so many characters I think. Anyway, hope you like it!
> 
> * * *

As Bad Wolf and Pond walked up to the building and broke in the front doors, all the team members received simultaneous text messages. The Doctor finally stood up after being unceremoniously tossed to the ground by Bad Wolf. He still couldn’t believe BW had done that to him. He was irritated at BW, himself and the whole chain of events. Before he could say or do anything, he heard the team’s collective gasps and curses. “What is it?” he asked, irritated but worried at their reactions.

The Captain’s face was pale and he looked at the Doctor. “It’s from Ianto,” he said, his voice shaking a bit.

The Doctor pulled out his phone and read the message. His grip tightened on the phone so hard he almost crushed it. They had just learned the mysterious client who had hired them to retrieve the Blue Box was none other than the Master. He had been playing them all along, keeping them busy and where he could keep an eye on them while he took over Torchwood. The Doctor turned and stared coldly into the cameras fixated on them.

Roranicus shoved the phone in his pocket, his face hardened and prepared to do battle. “I’m goin’ in after them,” he said in a determined voice.

The Doctor turned back and looked at all of the team members’ faces and any disputes or petty bickering that had divided them previously was gone. They were ready. “Captain,” he said, his eyes hard.

The Captain nodded his head. “Go, we’ve got all points of access covered.”

The Doctor nodded and looked at Roranicus. “You ready?” Roranicus nodded and they walked toward the front entrance following Bad Wolf and Pond who had no idea how much more dangerous this mission had become.

The atrium inside Torchwood Tower was empty and only dimly lit. Bad Wolf and Pond tensed and scanned the room noticing the cameras and security sensors. Bad Wolf walked up to one camera and smiled broadly at it having also received Ianto's text and knowing exactly who she was dealing with now. “Hello,” she said and waved. “What are you waitin’ for, Master? Afraid of a couple of Powells?” she taunted, turned and walked toward the stairs.

Pond arched a brow, smiled and asked. “Was that wise? Tauntin’ him like that?”

“Naw, got his attention. He has an ego the size of the solar system ya know.”

Before they made it far, the lift doors opened and a group of Sontaran warriors, Archangel’s foot soldiers, dressed all in tan uniforms with an angel emblem on their sleeves burst out carrying all manner of weapons. “Right then,” Bad Wolfed murmured. “Here we go!”

Pond and Bad Wolf ran, vaulting over plants, executing perfect tumbles and gymnastic moves as they raced Toward the stairs. When they rounded a corner, Pond pulled out two guns and began firing at the Sontarans while Bad Wolf armed a sonic grenade and tossed it at their opponents. After the explosion, they ran for the stairwell only to be greeted inside by more of the Archangel henchmen. Pond slid across the floor on her knees and fired on them. Bad Wolf pulled out a twelve inch silver baton which with a click of a button grew to a four foot staff which she wielded expertly, using it to pole vault into their assailants while Pond charge in behind her. Just as they finished disabling their opponents, the Doctor and Roranicus barreled in behind them almost getting shot by Pond.

“What the hell do you two think you’re doin?” Pond shouted. “I almost shot you!”

“We’re here to save you,” Roranicus answered as he kicked the stairwell door shut behind him and the Doctor soniced it locked.

The Doctor turned and glared at Pond’s guns. Bad Wolf looked at the two them harshly. “Don’t start!” she ordered the Doctor when she saw him staring at Pond’s weapons. “If you wanna help then keep up!” She turned to Pond who was still staring at Roranicus although not as harshly as she was at the Doctor. “Pond, you comin?”

The two women started running up the stairs with the Doctor and Roranicus close behind. “Will you stop this suicide run and listen to me!” the Doctor shouted. Bad Wolf looked once over her shoulder but didn’t stop.

Finally, Roranicus shouted, “The Master was the person that hired us to find the Blue Box!” This made Bad Wolf and Pond pause.

The Doctor came up between behind them. “Stop acting like a stubborn two year old and listen! It’s a trap! We’ve been manipulated from the start and you’re just doing exactly what the Master wants.”

Bad Wolf’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t lecture me about behavior. I knew the risks and this changes nothin’ about why we’re here. We all agreed the Blue Box is an item of power which Archangel will use against the world. We still have to stop them.”

“And shoot first and ask questions later is suddenly your first option is it!” the Doctor snapped.

Before Bad Wolf could respond, maniacal laughter filled the stairwell followed by applause. “Well done, Bad Wolf! I’ve waited a long time to watch someone emasculate the great Doctor and you’ve done it! Loved the toss in the parking lot by the way,” the Master announced with a cheery voice. “Not bad work with my reception committee either. Of course, that was nothing. If you and the ginger want to party with me, you’re going to have to do much better than that. Tell you what, you toss the Doctor down the stairs and ginger shoots the pretty boy and I’ll give you ohhhhhh a ten minute head start before I introduce you to my Prydian guard. What do you say BW?”

Bad Wolf found the camera in the corner and looked back at the Doctor like she was considering it. She cocked and eyebrow at him and he raised his eyebrows in response before aiming his sonic at the camera and exploding it.

“Destruction of private property. Doctor, you scofflaw you!” the Master announced. “BW darling, if you wanted the Doctor to watch, all you had to do was say so. Maybe we can even have pretty boy fetch us drinks like a good little Roman bath boy,” he purred.

“Sicko,” Pond muttered.

“I heard that, ginger! You’ll change your tune soon enough when I rule this world,” the Master shouted.

“Tell me we don’t have to listen to this the whole way up the tower,” Bad Wolf murmured as she began climbing.

The Doctor wasted no time in climbing up side by side with her. “We don’t have time for rowing. We need to work together,” the Doctor said in an sharp autocratic voice.

Bad Wolf wouldn’t even look at him, just continued up with Pond and Roranicus behind them whispering quietly to each other. The only thing that lightened Bad Wolf’s mood was hearing scraps of conversation from them like, “…never gonna leave you,” and “we do this together.” All she could think about was how lucky Pond was to have Roranicus. Bad Wolf genuinely liked him and thought he was a good match for Pond. She was envious of that love and devotion. A sigh escaped her as she pondered how her own romantic choices had been nothing but rubbish and how she was doomed to constantly fall for men who would do nothing but hurt her.

The Doctor meanwhile was still fuming, mainly at himself. All he had wanted to do was find Bad Wolf and Pond and keep them safe. He wondered how his life had suddenly become one pear shipped pile of rubbish. It was impossible for him to not notice the sad expression on Bad Wolf’s face. She tried to hide it but he knew her too well. “BW, I….” he started to say when a small metal object dropped from above them, bouncing and rolling down the stairs.

“It’s a grenade!” BW yelled and they bolted up the stairs as it exploded. The Doctor jerked Bad Wolf backwards as several steel arrows whizzed by them from above them and embedded in the wall which sizzled as they hit it.

“They’re shooting thermal tipped arrows at us!” Roranicus exclaimed as he and Pond ducked down.

“Doesn’t Torchwood have the best toys!” the Master’s voice echoed. “Oh, but I’m going to have fun with so many interesting things that good old Yvonne left laying about.”

After he announced that there was a scream as Yvonne Hartman fell past them and bounced down the stairwell with a sick thud.

Pond flattened herself against the wall breathing hard and then glared upward. Roranicus gripped Pond harder and looked up at Bad Wolf and the Doctor who were practically shaking with anger.

“Well, so much for Yvonne. Now then, don’t just stand their kiddies! You have a building to assault or are you ready to admit your defeat to your lord and master!”

“You sick bastard!” Pond yelled up at him. “The only thing we’re admitting is how much we’re gonna enjoy shoven one of these arrows up your arse!”

The Master just laughed. “Ooooo kinky! I like kinky gingers. What do you think BW, you up for a little rough and tumble?”

“Let them go, Master! It’s me you want to torment!” the Doctor called out. Bad Wolf grabbed his arm. “What are you doin?” she demanded.

“You don’t know what he’ll do to you. I can’t…I can’t let that happen. Please BW,” he said quietly, his face conveying his concern for her.

Bad Wolf’s face softened. She knew he couldn’t bare to see anyone hurt. “Doctor…” she started to respond.

“Oh, spare me the self sacrificing prattle!” the Master said almost groaning. “Don’t listen to him! He betrayed you BW. Wouldn’t you like to see him squirm? I could make that happen for you. Or better yet, let’s cut a mutually beneficial deal!” the Master almost purred. “Let’s say I make sure the Doctor suffers for your mistreatment, you and the ginger give me a little show and maybe I’ll spare half your team and let you live. Play your cards right BW, and you just might profit from this.”

“You sick, perverted psycho! Why I’ll…” she started to reply.

The Building shook and pieces of concrete began raining down around them. “Oh look, the annoying team members are trying to help you,” the Master said almost unconcerned. “Tsk, tsk, Doctor. You’re losing your touch with the kiddies. I would have thought you would keep dangerous things like missiles from the children. Now, I’ll just have to punish them.”

“Enough of the annoying gobby megalomaniac git!” Bad Wolf, said and pulled out a sonic grenade. Before the Doctor could stop her, she rolled and ducked the flying arrows, tossed it up the stairwell and dove back down on top of the Doctor who rolled over on top of her as the grenade exploded.

Pond looked up and grinned. “Now, that’s the way to distract the evil git!” She then looked at the Doctor on top of Bad Wolf. “Should we leave you two alone?” Roranicus, helped Pond up and raised his eyebrows at the two of them.

“Off,” Bad Wolf ordered, trying not to enjoy having him so close to her.

The Doctor gazed down at her and then shook himself out of it and stood up. He reached down and yanked her up beside him. “When this is over, we are going to talk about a number of things, including your propensity for tossing explosive devices before knowing who or what you are up against.”

She pulled her hand from his violently. “I know exactly the kind of people trying to hurt me and my team,” she snapped and stormed up the stairs with him hot on her heels.

They made up several flights before several of the Prydian guard repelled down on wires and shot them with a net gun. They were all unceremoniously dragged up the stairs to the Master who stood in the middle of a windowless white room with the Blue Box sitting in a corner with wires attached to it leading to a large rectangular device sitting a few feet away. The only other furniture was a single small white pedestal next to the Master on which a bottle of champagne sat. He stood there gloating as he sipped his champagne.

“Welcome!” he said and walked around his prisoners tangled together in the nets. Another net was dragged in with the Captain and Donna struggling in it. They could hear Donna berating the Captain.

“I told you it wouldn’t work! But, noooo you had to get all flash and get us captured,” Donna berated the Captain who looked like he’d rather be in a fire fight.

The Master smirked. “This was all too easy. How pathetic.”

“Master, listen to me,” the Doctor pleaded. “You don’t know what that Blue Box will do. All our research indicates it’s immensely powerful. It could destroy not just London but half the Earth.”

The Master laughed. “Spare me your melodramatic pontifications, Doctor! Unlike you and your inept Scoobies, I know what I’m doing.”

Bad Wolf knew she had to do something and fast. She pulled a knife out that was strapped to her ankle and cut the net while the Master was focused on taunting the Doctor and the guards were focused on the struggling Donna and Captain. Soon she knew she could slip out. She looked over at Pond who was reaching into Roranicus' jacket for his weapon. Pond looked up an nodded at her. She then leaned into Roranicus and whispered to him that they needed a distraction. She helped untangle him enough to enable him to reach his phone to text the Captain along with the Tin Dog and Healer. Roranicus just hoped the rest of their team was still free.

There was only one sonic grenade left in Bad Wolf’s pocket. She would only have one chance and she was going to risk exploding it near the Blue Box. As she rolled out of the net she reached into her jacket, activated it and in one swift move, tumbled out and tossed it near the Master and ducked down. She heard the Master laugh and nothing else. She looked over at his smirking face and a metal object in his hand and could practically feel the Doctor’s glare. One of the guards jerked her up and dragged her over to the Master while another pointed his weapon at Roranicus and Pond so they couldn’t escape.

“Tsk tsk, darling,” he mocked. “As if I didn’t see that coming and didn’t have this handy little gadget,” he explained. “I did tell you Torchwood has the best toys didn’t I?” He tossed the metal cylinder in the air. “Deactivates all sorts of nasty things like explosive devices tossed at me by homicidal blondes.” Bad Wolf shot him a vicious look and knew it was time for Plan B, distract the Master so the rest of the team could escape and stop him.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you need protection. Just look at this place. A whole army all to protect you from me,” Bad Wolf teased.

The Master laughed. “Oh BW! You and your pathetic little band are hardly a threat. You’re nothing more than an amusing distraction. Although…you might be a bit more of an enticing distraction,” he said and ran a finger down the side of her face. Bad Wolf spit at him. He wiped his face, slapped her hard across her cheek and grinned as he looked her up and down lasciviously. The two guards holding her chuckled.

“Ohhh feisty! I do like a good feisty plaything. I’ll bet you have endurance too.” He looked over to the Doctor who was giving him a murderous look. “What do you think, Doctor? Bet I could make her scream in more ways than one.”

“Let her go,” the Doctor said in an icy voice. He was fuming. Part of him was angry at Bad Wolf at trying a stunt like that and another part, a possessive jealous part, was livid that the Master had touched her.

The Master laughed. “Oh I don’t think so. It’s sort of the culmination of your failure and I’m going to enjoy it. You get to watch me dominate not just the world but your juicy little blonde,” he said with relish.

“I don’t think so, Master. I think I’m going to stop you and make you regret any harm that comes to BW or anyone else I care about,” he said, his eyes dark with fury.

Pond and Roranicus watched this exchange and had activated their mobiles to broadcast what was happening to the Tin Dog and the Healer hoping they were on their way with Jake. Meanwhile, the Captain and Donna were focused on the Blue Box. Donna leaned over to the Captain. “We’ve got to do something!” she whispered loudly. “It looks like he’s got it wired up as a power source. If he turns that thing on, there’s no tellin’ what’ll happen.”

The Captain had an idea but it could end badly. Donna and he were tangled together wrapped tightly in the net. There was a gun tucked away in his shoulder holster but he was too tangled up in the net to reach it. Donna had more flexibility and could probably reach it. “Donna, are you weapons trained?” he whispered in her ear.

Donna looked at him wincing as the net cut into her shoulder. “Depends on the weapon.”

One of the guards came over and kicked the captain in the head admonishing “No talking!” Donna glared at the guard but before she could complain, the Captain squeezed her bum. She whipped around ready to let him have it when he winked at her and looked down toward his chest. Donna nodded and reached in and found his weapon.

Bad Wolf was done with this smarmy Master. She hooked her leg around one of the guards holding her, twisted around and head butted the other as she tossed them to the ground and shoved them aside. She charged the Master. He was ready for her and they began sparring with her executing several jujitsu moves only to be blocked by him. Each of them scored a few blows on the other. Bad Wolf eventually feigned to the left and grabbed his arm and threw him but not before he kicked out at her legs so that she lost her balance. They rolled around until he was on top of her, pinning her down.

While they sparred, the Doctor was struggling to find his sonic’s laser setting to slice through the net. Pond grabbed him by his coat collar and pulled hard. “The guards are focused on them, we can use the hole Bad Wolf cut! Come on!” Soon they were untangling themselves from the net and rolling out. Roranicus was first and when the guards saw him, he pulled out pepper spray and doused them. Soon the other guards were descending and several shots cracked off as Donna shot them in the legs and shoulder. Pond untangled herself from the net, rolled out and aimed the gun she pulled from Roranicus and backed up to him. “Pepper spray?” she said over her shoulder

“Oi, it worked and besides, someone knicked my gun!” he responded with a smile while holding out his pepper spray. Pond grinned and narrowed her eyes at several guards who were staggering around blinded from the pepper spray. The Doctor scrambled out after them glaring at Pond with her gun and then at Donna before turning his attention to the Master..

He found the Master holding down Bad Wolf with two guards next to him. “I wouldn’t unless you want to see these white walls splattered with your wolf,” he said as he held a gun to Bad Wolf’s head. The Doctor slowly lowered his sonic and dropped it on the floor with a thunk.

“Drop your weapons!” he ordered the rest of the team, all of whom complied.

“Now then….” the Master started to say before the building shook from an explosion. He turned to his guards. “I told you to kill them! Take the pulse cannons and blow them up, blow up everything for all I care!” Several of the guard ran from the room. The Master, still training his gun at Bard Wolf yanked her up and dragged her over to a control panel wired to the Blue Box. “Where was I…Oh yes! Time to take over the world!” he said and flicked a few switches. A humming noise filled the room and everyone could feel the hair raise up on their skin. The humming grew louder and louder until the very walls seemed to vibrate.

The Master shoved Bad Wolf back until she hit one of the white walls and he practically jumped up with glee, his eyes wild and filled with insanity. The Doctor slowly made his way over to Bad Wolf who couldn’t take her eyes off the Master. The Doctor took her hand in his. “It’ll be all right,” he said softly.

She turned and looked at him. “I’m sorry, Doctor for everything. I wish…” she started to say but the Doctor interrupted her, gazing at her with such emotion in his eyes.

“Don’t. We still have time to talk and not when there’s an evil megalomaniac to stop from taking over the world. I promise you, this isn‘t the end.” Bad Wolf smiled softly at him wishing that were true. The air in the room shifted and it was like shadowy figures were shooting to and fro around the white room.

Another explosion rocked the building and cracked the walls. Dust fill filled the air and the shadows floating above them seemed whipped into a frenzy and made a whispering noise.

“It’s like an Army of Ghosts,” Bad Wolf whispered, looking up at them half fascinated and half terrified.

“What the hell are those things?” Donna asked.

By this time, most of the guards had fled the room and the Captain, Roranicus and Pond had made their over to the Doctor. The Master stood at the controls grinning manically while two of his guards stood next to him staring at the dark figures and trembling.

“That’s not good,” the Captain said, shaking his head. He gripped the gun he had retrieved from the floor and looked at the Doctor. “Doc, I’m ready to end this cause I gotta say. It’s looking like…”

“Doomsday,” Roranicus whispered and pulled Pond tightly to him.

“This, this is not doomsday. I’ve seen doomsday and it does not look like this!” the Doctor vehemently replied and turned toward the Master. “We have to get the controls from him and shut it down.”

The Captain gripped his gun but the Doctor grabbed his arm. “No! You can’t. If you hit the controls or the Blue Box, you could make it worse.”

“I won’t miss,” the Captain replied, his eyes narrowing on the Master. Just as he raised his gun, part of the ceiling collapsed on top of him and the rest of them all stumbled backwards. Jake ran in and began firing at the Master and his guards. This shook the guards out of their stupor and they fired back hitting Jake in the shoulder. He collapsed to the floor cursing.

The Master’s looked up annoyed and Bad Wolf rushed him knocking him from the controls. Donna was close behind and with a tremendous right hand hook, punched one of the guards knocking him out and into the other guard who she kicked in the groin and stomped into the ground. After she had them sorted she ran up to the Doctor who was now at the control panel. Roranicus ran to tend to Jake’s injuries while Pond helped to dig the Captain out from the debris that had fallen on him.

While Bad Wolf struggled with the Master, she yelled, “Doctor! Get that thing off!” The ghosts or whatever they were seemed drawn to her during her struggle with the Master and it was causing her to lose concentration as they swirled around the two of them faster and faster. She slipped a few times and the Master fired his gun. Bad Wolf felt the bullets whiz by her and prayed none of her team was hit. She eventually slammed the Masters arm against the wall, trying to wrench the gun from him. He pushed off and she fell backwards but unlike the last time, she was ready for him. She used the momentum of falling backwards to flip him over. His gun went flying and Bad Wolf was on him as he tried to scramble up. He punched her hard and jumped up almost growling at her. Bad Wolf shot up too and kneed him in the groin as they struggled. As he doubled over, she drop kicked his face until he stumbled backwards and slid down the wall.

Bad Wolf turned and saw the Doctor tugging at his hair as he tried to shut the machine off and Donna gesturing wildly by his side. She looked at the Blue Box and the a light on top of it was flashing. She was almost mesmerized by it and swore she heard some type of song. She looked at the walls and thought they were starting to crack and a light was glowing out of them. “Doctor!” she shouted at him, panic in her voice.

“It’s not working! It won’t turn off!” he shouted back.

By this time, Pond had freed the Captain and ran over with Roranicus’ gun to keep an eye on the two guards who were regaining consciousness. Bad Wolf ran and grabbed the Doctor’s sonic, shouted to him, tossed him his sonic and ran over to help. The Doctor caught it easily and aimed his sonic at the device and soon the humming sounds were gone as were the mysterious black phantoms. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The Tin Dog and the Healer ran into the room, both of them toting massive laser canons.

“The building’s secured!” the Healer shouted, scanning the room for any threats before setting down her laser canon to help Roranicus with Jake who was laying in a pool of blood. The Tin Dog dropped his canon and ran over to help the Doctor rip apart the machine that had very nearly destroyed them all. While Donna pulled the wires off of the Blue Box, stopping once or twice to stare at it curiously, Bad Wolf looked over at the Master who was still unconscious. The Captain run up and high fived her. “Nice work BW! Too bad we don’t have a recording of you neutralizing the Master. I know some people who‘d like copies of that.” She grinned back at him and pulled out her mobile.

“UNIT’s got the building surrounded,” the Tin Dog mentioned to her, grinning as he continued to work. He turned to the Doctor. “You got some friend there in Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. He says to send his regards and asks if you could please not blow up the entire building this time.” The Doctor looked at the Tin Dog and grinned, a twinkle of naughtiness in his eyes.

“That’s a story you gotta tell me one of these days,” the Tin dog said as he pulled the casing off the Master’s doomsday device. Bad Wolf couldn’t help and smile and shook her head as she texted Ianto to let him know their status.

Just as they were starting to relax and Bad Wolf and the Captain had finished dragging the tied up guards to the side, everything went pear shaped. The Master regained consciousness and grabbed his gun.

Bad Wolf screamed “No!” as he aimed it at the Doctor. The Tin Dog shoved the Doctor aside collapsing on top of him as the Master fired his gun. Another shot fired. Everyone turned stunned eyes on the Healer who stood with her firearm pointed at the now collapsed Master. She then bolted to the Tin Dog.

She rolled him over, tears pooling in her eyes. “No you don’t!” she cried. “You’re not leaving me! You promised me a Thai dinner if I helped bomb the building and you’re gonna pay up! Do you hear me you cocky lump!”

The Tin Dog began coughing and opened his eyes and grinned at her. “I knew you liked me!” he said and looked down at his chest. “Oh that bloody well hurts! Torchwood could make some improvements to their body armor!”

The Healer straightened and then touched his chest eventually pulling off his Jacket to reveal a bullet imbedded in some new lightweight bullet proof vest. She looked over at the Tin Dog and glared at him. “That’s not funny! You could have been killed! Do you see where this bullet would have hit you!” she yelled at him looking at how close it was to his heart.

He grinned at her and then winced. “Sorry, babe. I had to go for it you know. It was the Doctor. Sorry I scared you,” he said and tried to sit up and fell back down.

The Healer rolled her eyes and peeled the armor off of him. “Stop squirming! Just because it stopped the bullet doesn’t mean you’re not hurt!” she lectured as she looked at the beginnings of a huge bruise on his chest. “I’m taking you to the hospital for a full work up,” she informed him back in professional mode but with a new look in her eye as she gazed down at him.

The Doctor walked over to the Master and knelt next to him. He took his pulse. “He’s still alive! Get an ambulance!” The Healer looked over at him. Part of her was relieved that she hadn’t killed him. It was against her oath as physician to take life but then there was a part of her that was sorry she hadn’t ended him. He was a ruthless killer who wouldn’t have hesitated to kill anyone on her team or anyone else she loved. She looked away and then at the gun she had dropped. It would be a while before she would pick up a gun again.

Bad Wolf watched the Doctor treat the Master. She didn’t know what to make of it but then her emotions for the Doctor were all over the place. She loved him. Of that she was sure, but she didn’t’ trust him and especially not with him hovering over the Master. Yet, a part of her was proud of him for not heartlessly walking away and letting their enemy die alone. She had no doubt that’s what the Master would do and that’s what separated the two brilliant men. The Doctor wanted to protect and save people no matter what, even at the cost of his own life.

The Captain walked up and put his hand on her shoulder as several UNIT soldiers and medics rushed into the room. “Roranicus, Pond and the Healer are going with Jake and the Tin Dog to the hospital. Donna’s gonna handle UNIT.”

Bad Wolf turned to the Captain. “The Doctor. He’s…” she started to say but didn’t finish as she turned back to watch him work on the Master with the UNIT medics.

“They go way back which is why this thing with the Master is so personal. I don’t know the whole story. Only that once they were friends.” The Captain explained.

Bad Wolf turned and looked at him. “Friends?”

“They had a bit of a falling out. Each chose a different path,” the Captain said watching the Doctor with the Master.

A UNIT general walked in followed by the Madame and several armed guards. She was smiling sweetly and providing UNIT with information regarding the Torchwood building. Bad Wolf was less than pleased to see her here, especially the way she kept gazing at the Doctor. That was about it for Bad Wolf. She couldn’t be here anymore, especially with Reinette here looking at the Doctor like as if she wanted to take up where they had left off back in Paris.

“Don’t,” the Captain said, sensing Bad Wolf’s anger at Reinette and the look in her eyes. He’d seen that “run away” look enough times in the Doctor’s eyes to know what it meant. “He needs you.” Bad Wolf looked at the Doctor barking orders to everyone as the Master was stabilized and put on a stretcher.

She shook her head and looked off at the Blue Box and knew she couldn’t be here anymore. She couldn’t even respond to the Captain. Her emotions were mixed and now with the Madame here…she just wanted to run. She was tired of being hurt.

Donna walked over to them. “The Madame informed UNIT what was going on. She’s provided them with information about what Torchwood was up to here and is helping out as a consultant. Donna was worried about Bad Wolf. She looked over at the Doctor and the Master woke up and looked at the Doctor and began spouting off how they’d never imprison him and that he’d always win She watched as the Doctor‘s face hardened but still bore the sense of some inner pain.

The Captain, sensing the Doctor’s mixed feelings walked over to support his friend. When he turned back to wave Bad Wolf over, she was gone. Donna walked slowly over to him and shook her head and mouthed “Let her go.” The Captain nodded and along with Donna helped deal with UNIT. Soon, the building was secure and they were alone in the white room with the Blue Box.

“Look, I’m gonna go to head to the hospital and meet up with Roranicus, Pond and the Healer to check on Jake and the Tin Dog. I’ll catch up with you later,” the Captain said to the Doctor.

The Doctor was staring at the Blue Box which was being wheeled out of the room with Ianto overseeing it‘s removal. The Captain walked over to him. “She’s gone isn’t she?” the Doctor asked without turning to look at the Captain.

“Yeah. I’m sorry,” the Captain answered. “I think UNIT wants a word with us downstairs. Want me to handle it.”

“Yeah,” the Doctor answered softly.

The Captain turned to leave and paused at the door. “You gonna be all right?”

“I’m always all right,” the Doctor answered sadly as he stood alone in the empty white room.  


* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two agencies whose specialties are secrets, intrigue and finding lost things are hired to find the Blue Box. Neither agency knows what it is or does, only that it's important. There is a rivalry between the Gallifrey Intelligence Agency and the Powell Agency and perhaps a bit of UST. Will they outsmart each other or put aside their differences and work together once their mysterious client is revealed, and find out the true nature of the Blue Box?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay final chapt! It's a little longer than I thought it would be. Thank you everyone who took the time to read and review this story!

After the Master was taken to a secure hospital ward under high security provided by UNIT, and the Blue Box was removed to another secure and highly classified location, the Doctor spent some time wandering the streets of London thinking about all that had happened. This case had made him more aware of how fallible they all were and how much the two teams needed each other. Perhaps if they had worked together from the beginning, they would have realized they were being manipulated. Many Torchwood people, including Yvonne Hartman, may have lived if they had set aside their differences and compared information.

In the end, the two teams had worked together seamlessly. Well, almost seamlessly. There still remained one loose end. Bad Wolf. He hadn’t seen her since Canary Wharf and that had been weeks ago. It was almost like she had disappeared off the face of the Earth. Even her team members didn’t know where she was. At least, that’s what they were telling his team. To be honest, he had been avoiding them too. The last thing he wanted was Donna’s reproach at how he had treated Bad Wolf or her sympathetic glances at his self imposed misery.

It was Roranicus who found him standing in the rain watching the construction of a monument erected to honor those that had been killed at Canary Wharf during Archangel’s assault.

“Roranicus, what are you doing here?” the Doctor asked without turning around, water clinging to his tousled hair and soaking his trainers.

Roranicus stepped over to him shielding him from the rain with his umbrella. “You haven’t been answering your mobile. Sarah Jane was worried you’d go off and do something stupid like blowing up as many Archangel assets as you could find.”

The Doctor turned to Roranicus. “That explosion in Brussels wasn’t me.”

“Right,” Roranicus said softly, nodding his head and making a mental note to check with Sarah Jane about the explosion. “So, will you be checking in anytime soon?”

The Doctor just turned to stare at the partially constructed monument. Roranicus looked at him and sighed. “Look, we all need a break. The Director wants to take all of us to a private compound in Scotland to relax and spend some time team building. He and the Matriarch have already agreed on a permanent merger.”

“And Bad Wolf…she’s agreed to this?” the Doctor asked, still not looking at him.

Roranicus didn’t respond and stared out across the street.

The Doctor turned to look at him. “No one’s talked to her have they?” he asked.

Roranicus turned to him. “The last person to hear from her was the Healer just after Canary Wharf. She called to make sure Jake and the Tin Dog were all right. She said she needed some time to think.” Roranicus paused and sighed. “No one’s heard from her since and she left her mobile at her flat. The Matriarch is not happy and well, you can imagine what that means.”

The Doctor nodded. “I take it she blames me and wants my head.”

Roranicus smiled slightly. “Well…maybe not quite that violent but slapping was mentioned. She’s just worried. Bad Wolf’s never gone off the grid like this before.”

The Doctor turned to Roranicus. “Never?”

“Donna thinks she just needs to work out some things. Seeing the Madame sweep in with UNIT proud as you please may have brought back bad memories.”

The Doctor stared hard at Roranicus. Bad Wolf wasn’t one to run away from a fight. “Has anyone spoken to the Madame?” he asked.

Roranicus just stared at him. “Uh no and I don’t think that would be a good idea. Both the Director and the Matriarch have made clear that the Madame persona non gratis. She tried to take credit for our work. She told UNIT she provided you with the information allowing you to take the Master down. Got paid part of the reward for the Master’s capture. Of course, the Director and the Matriarch made clear to UNIT that you and Bad Wolf did all the work and that the Madame was not to be trusted. But, you know how persuasive she can be so she still walked away with compensation.”

The Doctor’s eyes darkened. Reinette was mostly harmless just a bit avaricious. She liked nice things and being around men of power. She was the epitome of a courtesan and could sweet talk her way out of any difficult situation. It was obvious that she had made a comfortable life for herself. Of course, she made that life at the expense of others who were less inclined to employ her methods: people like Bad Wolf, and now him. He could care a less about the money. It was her selfish disregard for others that rubbed him the wrong way.

After learning what she had done to BW and how it had hurt her, not to mention Reinette’s part in the Blue Box fiasco, and leading BW to believe he was involved with someone who betrayed her, left him feeling cold and angry. It would be best for Reinette if she didn’t cross paths with him again.

“I take it the Director and the Matriarch have assured we will avoid future entanglements with Reinette,” the Doctor said tightly.

“Oh yeah. After they found out she swanned off with the reward money, they went straight to UNIT command about her involvement with H.C. Clements. I think UNIT will think twice about using her services any time soon and well….” Roranicus said, pacing and scratching his neck nervously. The Doctor cocked an eyebrow at him. “You see, Donna got wind of things so she and Pond may have hopped a jet to France.”

“Oh?” the Doctor said, now curious to find out what the gingers had up their sleeves.

Roranicus smiled. “Let’s put it this way. I don’t think the Madame will be returning to her home. As a matter of fact, it may be a long time before anyone lives in that place. It’s sort of infested with um….every vile thing you could imagine.”

Some of the Doctor’s dark mood lifted. “Such as?” he asked, curious to learn exactly what kind of vengeance the gingers had exacted on Reinette.

“Rats, Bats, fleas, these giant spiders from South America, slugs, flies and a few snakes,” Roranicus explained. The Doctor stared and a smile emerged on his face. Roranicus returned his smile. “Never piss off a Powell.”

The Doctor had an amused twinkle in his eyes and for the first time since Canary Wharf, a plan was forming.

Roranicus watched the expression on the Doctor’s face change and he began to feel hopeful that all of this would work out. “Doctor, what do you want me to tell the Director?”

The Doctor, with a determined look on his face turned to Roranicus. “Tell him I’m going to find Bad Wolf and I’m going to make things right. I’ll be in touch when I find her,” he said with assurance and walked off with purpose.

Roranicus pulled out his mobile and rang up Sarah Jane. “You were right. He’s on his way.”

Sarah Jane smiled pleased. She had been afraid the Doctor would pull a runner. Asking Roranicus to have a chat with him, was her trump card and she hoped Roranicus presence would be enough to remind the Doctor that some things were worth fighting for. She thanked Roranicus and turned to the Director and the Matriarch informing them of his success. The Matriarch, dressed in a designer jeans with a pink jacket over a pink top nodded her head. “It’s about bloody time! Honestly, the way he moped around London,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Brilliant but useless without a good kick in the arse. Just like any man.” She turned to the Director and smiled sweetly. “Sorry, love!”

The Director leaned over and kissed her. “No apologies necessary, sweetheart! You were right. He did need good shove. Now then, shall we?” he asked and held out his arm. The Matriarch smiled and wrapped her arm in his. “Sarah Jane, we’ll meet you at the Torchwood estate. You and Ianto can corral the rest of the team,” the Director announced as he and the Matriarch exited the suite.

Ianto quietly appeared next to Sarah Jane and looked at her expectantly. “You heard the Director. Let’s make the rounds and gather the children. I expect this will take some time. You know how rambunctious they all are after a mission,” Sarah Jane announced as the two of them began making the necessary arrangements.

************************

It took the Doctor a week of haunting dozens of chippies in London before he got a lead on Bad Wolf. He was kicking himself when he realized how close to him she’d been all this time. If he hadn’t had his head up his arse, he probably would have seen her. The chippy she was frequenting was one that none of the other team members would have looked at twice. It was very touristy and not her usual style which is probably why she was frequenting it. Well, that reason and its proximity to something nearby. He had to smile when he realized what she was doing. It was something he had thought about himself.

He descended down a stair case into a sub-level beneath London proper. He made his way through the dimly lit tunnel ducking around pipes and listening to the traffic and trains shake the tunnel walls. Soon, he was climbing down another level. He looked at a mark on a tunnel juncture noting Henriks above him and grinned. There was a metal door with a key pad and hand print scanner next to it. He punched in a code and placed his palm against the scanner and the door clicked open.

He walked into a cavernous room lined floor to ceiling with crates marked with various warnings and symbols. He made his way through dimly lit maze of boxes until he found her. She was sitting cross legged on the concrete floor, leaning against a crate, staring at the Blue Box opposite her.

“Hello,” he said softly.

“Hi,” she answered, but didn’t take her eyes off the Blue Box.

He walked over. “Mind if I…” he said and gestured next to her. She shrugged her shoulders. He thought that was a good sign. He half expected her to tell him to ‘go to hell’ or that she would just leave without another word. Although he hated her silence, right now he’d accept it.

He sat down and leaned against the crate next to her. “So…the Blue Box,” he said, looking straight ahead at the Blue Box and feeling something odd as he stared at it. It was like a song playing over and over in his head but he couldn’t identify what it was.

“Yeah. I needed a place to think and…I just couldn’t get her out of my head.”

“Her?” the Doctor asked, even though part of him acknowledged that ‘her’ felt like the right description to use for the Blue Box.

Bad Wolf turned to him. “Yeah. Feels like a her. It’s like a siren you know? She’s singing this song and I can’t help but come here. Sometimes it’s kind of sad like she wants company.”

“But not now,” the Doctor said and smiled.

“No,” Bad Wolf acknowledged and looked at him closer. “You can hear her too?”

“Oh yes! It’s been playing in my head for a while. I just couldn’t hear it too clear ‘cos I was…distracted. Now, I can hear it clear as anything.”

Bad Wolf stared at him. She had heard he was stalking around London in a funk. She may not have been in contact with her team, but her informants and friends outside the company had told her he was often seen staring at the monument at Canary Wharf.

Even though she was still hurt by things that happened in Paris, and things he did and said on their mission at Canary Wharf, she still empathized with his guilt over all who died at Torchwood One. She was also bearing that weight. Truth be told, the whole Blue Box case had shaken her confidence and made her reassess everything. It wasn’t just about falling for him and what she felt was his betrayal, nor was it only the Madame. This was about her losing faith in her own judgment and instincts about people. If she couldn’t determine who was trustworthy, she shouldn’t be in this work anymore.

Before she could say anything, the Doctor reached for her hand. “I’m sorry, BW. Sorry about Reinette. Sorry that I misjudged your reaction to seeing her all over me in her office. Sorry that I didn’t talk to you sooner and clear the air. I’m sorry that I accused you of being jealous and unprofessional and that I didn’t trust you to do your job. Mostly, I’m sorry we’ve lost so much time, time that we could have been spending together.”

Bad Wolf looked down at his hand clasping hers. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions about you and Reinette. The Captain explained that you and her were…were together a while ago and she hurt you. She’s good at that. She knows how to be exactly what you need or want until it doesn’t suit her anymore and then she just leaves. I don’t want to be like her,” Bad Wolf said passionately.

“You’re not!” the Doctor affirmed.

“Aren’t I? I left you didn’t I and I’m sorry for that. I couldn’t get past my own pain and didn’t give you a chance to explain.”

“BW, you have every right to feel angry and suspicious of her and anyone associated with her. She betrayed you and left you to suffer at the hands of mercenaries. She expected you to do what she would have done but you were better than that. You are better than that. Better than me even.”

“But, I’m not!” she answered, tears in her eyes. “I’m so not. You’re brave and not afraid of anythin’. You kept focused when all I wanted to do was smack that aristocratic smile off her face.”

The Doctor gripped her hand tighter. He was so angry at himself for not seeing what was happening to Bad Wolf at H.C. Clements. He jumped to conclusions and then allowed his emotions to get the better of him. He should have trusted her and known there was something more than petty jealousy at work. It was his own cowardice blinding him. He had been afraid at how close he had grown to Bad Wolf and it had almost destroyed them.

“You’re wrong. I was scared of how close we had grown and how much you mean to me. The thought of losing someone that I…” he said and looked away. He took a breath and turned back to her. “You’re the brave one. Even though you were hurting, you set aside your feelings to get the job done even when I…. Well, I wasn’t at my best. And there you were, setting aside your own pain and leading the charge at Canary Wharf. I felt all twisted up watching you be so brave and putting your life on the line like that. You could have died and I never told you…”

“Told me what?” she asked, a hopeful glimmer in her eyes.

He looked at her and grasped both her hands in his. “How sorry I am that I caused you any pain and how much it guts me that I hurt you. How much you mean to me and how I want to make things right. Please give us another chance. I need you. I love you,” he said softly, gazing at her with every bit of emotion evident in his eyes, now hiding nothing.

Bad Wolf stared deeply into his earnest brown eyes and smiled. “You still want me then? I thought…and, well I’m not…” she stuttered and sighed miserable. “I left you at Canary Wharf.”

“I want. Never doubt how much I want,” he answered passionately.

Bad Wolf nodded her head and threw her arms around him whispering how much she loved him. He squeezed her tight to him like he couldn’t get enough of her. She snuggled into his arms and looked up at him. “If me and you do this thing then we have to be honest and well, make some promises. No more snoggin’ betrayin‘ bints.”

The Doctor, smiled and nodded. “All right. No more charging into certain death without me.”

Bad Wolf smiled. “Better with two,” she responded, nodding.

“Better with you,” he responded, leaning in to nuzzle her, pressing his lips to hers. Bad Wolf moaned as she felt his soft lips against hers, his tongue expertly licking, begging entrance to deepen the kiss. She sighed into the snog which was quickly turning into roaming hands with both of them tugging at clothing.

She pulled back breathing hard and looked into his eyes. “We can’t. Someone could walk in and…what about the team?”

“First off, no one’s coming in here. Only a handful of people know about this place and even fewer have the access code. B, the team is off with the Director and Matriarch in Scotland doing some sort of rubbish team building exercise. So you see, perfectly safe. Just you me and the Blue Box over there.”

Bad Wolf giggled and snuggled up to him looking over at the Blue Box. “She sounds happy. I think she likes us being here with her.”

The Doctor pulled her tight under his long coat. “I think you’re right,” he said gazing at the box and almost feeling like he could see himself and Bad Wolf running, dancing and having a future together.

“Doctor?” Bad Wolf asked.

“Hmmm,” he responded.

“Do you…do you have any family?”

He became very silent and Bad Wolf looked up to see a pained expression on his face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked so soon. We both need time,” she said compassionately.

“I lost them in a war. It’s just me now,” he said sadly.

“Not anymore. Now there’s me,” Bad Wolf said, looking up at him with love.

He looked down at her and smiled. “What about you?”

She blushed and looked off toward the Blue Box. “Just me and my Mum.”

The Doctor’s eyebrows rose in response. Bad Wolf giggled. “It’s a bit funny really. We lost dad when I was baby and didn’t have much of anything. We were poor and living on an estate. Then one day we saw one of the neighbors gettin’ beat on by some tough and we stopped him. Broke his nose and everythin’. He never came back. That’s when it hit us. Maybe we don’t have no A-Levels and maybe we’re not all posh and fancy but we know what’s right and everyone needs protection. We started our own agency just doin’ little stuff at first. You know, followin’ cheatin’ blokes around and gettin’ pictures or tracking down runaways. We just got better and better at it.”

“The Powell Agency!” he exclaimed softly. “You and your mum founded it. That’s brilliant!” Then he paused and his smile fell. “You and your mum founded it,” he said softly and swallowed hard. He stared at Bad Wolf. “You…” he started to say and then reached up and started pulling at his hair. “Oh, I am in trouble,” he moaned.

Bad Wolf laughed. “Yeah, you are! Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

He shook his head. “Blimey, I’m getting old. I should have seen this. You and the Matriarch. Do the others know?”

Bad Wolf shook her head. “No, we decided a long time ago not to tell anyone. It’s better that way. Keeps everyone safe.”

He looked at her for a moment and smiled warmly. “You trust me with something so important?”

“Yeah, I do,” she said softly and traced her fingertips over his side burns.

He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. “I want to share something with you too.”

Bad Wolf smiled shyly at him and bumped her shoulder into his playfully, happy that they had recaptured some of the easy intimacy they shared prior to the Reinette incident. He pulled out a sonic screwdriver and handed to her. She looked up at him. “This is your sonic?” she asked, a confused look on her face.

“No, it’s yours,” he said and tugged at his ear nervously. “It’s sort of like a key you know. Opens just about any lock and has stuff programmed into it.”

“Stuff?” she asked with a flirtatious smile.

“You know, like the addresses of my flats in London, New York, Athens and Jalagaon.”

“Jalagaon?” Bad Wolf asked quizzically.

“India,” he said, staring at her like she should know. Her brow furrowed. “BW, the banana capital of the world!” he exclaimed shocked. “Oh, that’s it! We’re going! I’m taking you now. Come on,” he said, standing up and pulling her up with him.

“Doctor, we can’t just swan off. What about the team?”

He rolled his eyes. “They’ll make do. They’re just off blogging and getting lectured. You know, boring stuff. While you and I,” he said and pulled her up and started dancing with her, twirling her about. “Will be off enjoying the sumptuous banana groves in exotic India.” he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her swaying with her and whispering into her ear, “Think of it. You, me, tropical nights, the scent of tamarind and coriander with fresh made banana daiquiris and not a judgmental Matriarch or Director in sight.”

Bad Wolf smiled, closed her eyes and hummed in his arms. That is until I need a hero began playing and his pocket started vibrating. “Uh, Doctor?” Bad Wolf murmured into his coat.

“Ignore it. It’s just Sarah Jane checking up on me.”

Bad Wolf giggled. “Nice ring,” she teased.

“Bloody, Captain,” he groused.

The phone continued to wring and a new song played, Sexy Back.

“Doctor, I think you should answer it. I don’t have my mobile with me and it could be important.”

He sighed and pulled it out of his pocket while Bad Wolf walked over and put her hands on the Blue Box. She smiled listening to its song which seemed much more content. “There, there, girl. I promise we’ll be back soon,” she cooed to it.

“This better be important, Captain!” he said grumpily. “What!” the Doctor shouted. Bad Wolf turned to him, hearing the concern in his voice.

“We’ll be right there. Hang tight!”

“What’s wrong?” Bad Wolf asked.

“India will have to wait. We have to get to Scotland,” he said and then looked at the Blue Box for a moment.

“What’s happened!” Bad Wolf demanded.

He looked back at her. “Torchwood that’s what,” he said annoyed. “Our team went and blonded into a Torchwood mess.”

Bad Wolf took his hand and they began making there way out. “What’s the situation.?” she asked all business now.

“Werewolf,” he answered.

She pulled him to a stop. “Seriously?”

He grinned back at her. “Apparently, the Director and the Matriarch took over Torchwood House in Scotland and ran into some experiment in the basement. They need help fast.”

Bad Wolf grinned at him. “Sounds like they need a Bad Wolf and a Doctor.”

“The stuff of legends,” he responded and they dashed off together hand in hand on to the next adventure.  


* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  



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